It is getting harder and harder to avoid devoting these columns to Brexit. Yet again things may have changed dramatically between when I write this and when you read it. I am having to spend so much more of my time than usual in London taking part in votes. I know this is a key part of my job but I also need to be in the South Lakes sorting out your problems. As I said in my last column one of the biggest issues with the Brexit debate is that it is taking people’s focus away from many many other important issues. I feel sorry for the constituents of those MPs you continually see on tv giving their views on Mrs May’s deal or what the EU will do next. All the time they spend in front of a camera is time they are not sorting out housing problems or pushing councils to fill in potholes.
Mind you, to be honest, working on your issues is a great distraction from worrying about how our country is being governed.
Fortunately this week I have some really great news to report. We have saved our Post Office in Kendal!.
The Post Office bosses have been going on a rather massive programme of “modernisation”. On their website they say that this is not about “closure” but about making their services more accessible. To be fair in some cases this is the case. In Milnthorpe, where I live, the Post Office has moved to our local newsagent and it is now open for much longer hours and parking is brilliant. But in the case of their plans for Kendal “modernisation” seemed to be less important than “cost saving”. They wanted to move into WHSmith.
If you have ever been into the Kendal branch of WHSmith you will know it already has plenty of stuff on display and it’s a bit tight getting around it.
What made me even more angry was that the Post Office claimed to be consulting on their plans. But the consultation was taking place after they had submitted their proposals to change the signage outside WHSmith for planning approval. It was all very worrying. The Post Offices Minister agreed on this when I raised it with her and she agreed to look into it.
So it was great news to learn that the Post Office had changed their plans. Something they have only done twice in all of hundreds of branch changes they have made recently.
I don’t know about you but just thinking about this has cheered me up. But sadly I need to get back to voting on Brexit.
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