Update on petition from Wigtown

Hi

Well, it's not looking good.

The following is an update on the campaign but given the news of the upcoming general election on the 4th July who knows what the future will bring.

I had a meeting with Finlay Carson, the MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries and initially I was heartened by the response. Mr Carson acknowledged the problem Wigtown is facing without a Post Office or Banking facilities and undertook to help to try and find a solution. His initial response was to facilitate a meeting between the Ayrshire regional manager for Cash Access UK (presumably D & G doesn't have representation in this company) and the community of Wigtown. Cash Access UK are the company who are establishing Banking Hubs throughout the UK and there are currently 12 Banking Hubs in Scotland, including Kirkcudbright. I left the meeting feeling that a connection like this would give us the chance to state our case, to show this person how the closures have affected the town and individuals and hopefully persuade the company to at least look at the possibility of a Banking Hub in Wigtown. My hope was that if we could get this company on board this would encourage Post Office Ltd to look again at their plans for Wigtown.

I contacted Mr Carson's office after a couple of weeks to get an update and was told that Mr Carson had had a Teams meeting with the area manager he'd spoken about and his intention was to contact Sandra McDowall to update her on the situation. I do know, from attending the last Community Council meeting, that Sandra has had that update and is acting on matters arising from it. It also became apparent from that CC meeting that Cash Access UK have moved the gateposts again making the criteria for eligibility (especially population) virtually impossible for Wigtown and the surrounding area to meet, which indicates to me that their intentions are not favourable.The email from Mr Carson's office ended by assuring me that feed back will be given as soon as we have any further news, I have heard nothing since. 

Post Office Ltd have insisted that they are doing all they can to find a solution to the lack of counter service in Wigtown but an advertisement hidden away in the depths of their website is hardly pro-active. I am sitting here listening to Paula Vennel give evidence in the Post Office Enquiry - given the scandal surrounding the way Post Office Ltd have conducted themselves over the last 20 years regarding the welfare and treatment of their staff, and given the criteria an applicant has to fulfill, I doubt that there will be any takers for a counter in Wigtown.

We do still have paper petitions around the town but I will be removing them shortly - but to date we have a total of 824 personal signatures and 32 signatures from businesses and given the current population of Wigtown is 890 this is an outstanding and overwhelming response to the petition and for that I am very grateful. To me this shows the wealth of feeling about this issue but sadly I don't think this is going to be enough. It is with a very sad heart that I have to say that I am holding my hands up and passing the responsibility for providing adequate financial and postal services in Wigtown over to powers more influential than myself. With the amazing support you have shown I feel that we have provided a substantial platform for the politicians and public servants to use. I am confident that Sandra McDowall and her fellow members on Wigtown Community Council will do all in their restricted powers and I sincerely hope that the government representatives who will promise so much in these next few election weeks in order to get our votes will do their utmost to fulfill their commitments when they are in a position to do so.

Thanks again for your support,

Lou Martin