I am the new Isle of Wight Councillor for Central Rural which includes Rookley and residents from all over the Island have asked me to save the Post Office from closure upon the imminent retirement of the current Post Mistress. This is a Community asset which is used by many people for many purposes. It has a large notice board for Community use and there is even a box for people to leave messages for the police who go there regularly to meet the public. There is also a shop selling cards, wrapping paper and stationery. It has a large car park for customer use which people find invaluable and no other local post office has this facility and so people chose to use Rookley. All of this would be lost if Rookley Post office closes. One lady reported that she relied upon the Post Office for cash for her elderly mother as there is no other banking facilities in Rookley and she described it as a "lifeline".   

If Rookley Post Office was to close not only would these Community facilities be lost, but the next nearest Post Office is Godshill which has no parking. In fact many Godshill residents use Rookley Post Office instead of their own because of this. Rookley has no other banking facilities or other cash handling facilities. This will create a big problem for both residents and local businesses that rely on the Post Office. Everyone I have spoken to is really upset about the loss of such an important part of the Community and many people did not even know about the impending closure.

The current Post Mistress is due to retire imminently. The Post Office HQ has shown little interest in finding a replacement and will just allow Rookley Post Office to close. We must act now to stop the Post Office taking away our vital Community resource, please sign my petition to save Rookley Post Office now.