A Dundee MSP has branded planned post office closures in the city “a bitter blow”.
SNP MSP Joe Fitzpatrick reacted to the news that the Menzieshill Post Office in the Spar would be closing.
Earlier this month, it was announced that nine Post Office counters across Tayside and Fife would be closing, due to financial reasons.
Fitzpatrick, who supported a motion by Labour MSP Alex Rowley in Holyrood to find alternatives for the service, hoped the much supported post office could remain open.
He said: “A Post Office branch is a necessity for many. The news of the closure of the counter at the store in Orleans Place will come as a bitter blow to many in the community.
“I have written to Operator CJ Lang & Son to request a re-think and have also asked if any closure could be delayed until such times as an alternative premises can be found.
“I have also written to Post Office to seek a commitment to finding an alternative premises in Menzieshill as soon as possible in the result of any closure and to offer my assistance.”
Post Office Campaign
This came just months after Dundee Cllr Charlie Malone announced a campaign to keep the Post Office in Menzieshill open had been successful.
He called the announcement a “kick in the teeth” for the local community, adding: “When the Post Office at the Spar came back the first time saying they had reversed the decision to close, everyone was really hopeful.
“So I think, once again, it’s a bit of a kick in the teeth for the local community – especially when there had been high hopes for it being retained.
“It’s part of a wider thing that’s happening throughout commerce. You see it with the banks in Lochee as well.
“When the community is supporting the organisations that have been in trouble through going out and spending their money. And in the case of the banks the government bailing them out.
“But when it comes to a commercial decision, the first thing it turns it back on is the community.
“So I think the disappointment has been felt even greater now, than it was the first time round.”