Sammy Wilson MP MLA

“Wilson urges outreach service in Millbrook ”

Sammy Wilson MP MLA has written to the Royal Mail requesting that they reconsider the decision to terminate Post Office services in Millbrook.

Mr Wilson requested that when the new community centre opens in September, the hall should be used as an outreach centre for once or twice a week for a few hours.

Mr Wilson said: “The vast majority of people who use the Post Office at Millbrook are elderly, and although for many people 2 miles to the Post Office at Lynn Road does not seem far, it is a different case for elderly people with no private transport.

This is why it is essential that we retain some form of outreach service to the people in Millbrook, and hence why I have written to Royal Mail. I hope that we succeed to keeping this essential service in this part of the town. I will, of course, inform the public when I get a response.”

ENDS

Text of the letter to Royal Mail:

Further to the conversation I had with you on Friday 16 May, I would ask formally for you to reconsider the decision to terminate the Post Office services at Millbrook in Larne. Whilst I understand that the Post Office have made this decision based on the numbers of people using this outlet and it’s distance from the Post Office on the Lynn Road, I would point out to you that the vast majority of people who use Millbrook are elderly and the journey to the Lynn Road means going along a two mile route which is extremely exposed to the weather and includes a number of long, very steep hills, rendering it totally unsuitable to those elderly people.

There is one possibility which I would ask the Post Office to consider. In September a new community centre will open at Millbrook and the Centre Committee would be very keen that the hall be used as an outreach centre, perhaps once a week for a couple of hours, as has been suggested for the Carnalbanagh Post Office in the Larne area.

I believe that the Committee would be very proactive in seeking to encourage people to use the facility and it would also help to widen the range of activities in the Centre, into which considerable investment has been poured. Obviously it would be made clear to the community that this would be done on a trial basis to ascertain what demand there may be for the services and the position could be reviewed in a year’s time.

I would ask that careful consideration be given to this request.

Yours sincerely

ENDS

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