Carmichael welcomes apparent U-turn on Burravoe post office closure

Orkney and Shetland MP, Alistair Carmichael, has welcomed reports today that the Post Office has U-turned on its plans to close Burravoe Post Office without a replacement, following representations to the company made last week.

Mr Carmichael said:

“I wrote to Post Office management last week to determine exactly what their intentions were and the reason for a lack of consultation. I am glad that they seem to have seen sense and agreed at least to open up offers of interest. A basic consultation really ought to be the bare minimum we should expect.

“If there is already interest in someone else taking up the franchise locally – and I understand that there is – then for the Post Office to dismiss this out of hand without even a discussion would have been entirely counterproductive. If it proves to be the case that there is no viable business locally that would be one thing, but for that to be proven they must consult the community.”