JUST when we thought the Post Office had finished decimating our rural branches for the time being; they come back to have another go. Grimscott branch was originally scheduled for closure and replacement with a mobile post office to be parked two mornings a week in the Parish Hall car park.

After the consultation period Grimscott was held under review and has been dangling ever since. The Post Office is consulting again on the closure of this branch. Not to reverse their original proposal but to downgrade the outreach proposal even further.

They are now suggesting that the mobile van service should not be implemented, and that a 'Home Service' with a more limited range of customer services, should be used to replace the existing branch.

Last year at Dan Rogerson's public meeting in Bude, Post Office representatives denied choosing a cluster of post offices for a mobile van service because it would be cheaper if they chose Post Offices which were consecutively placed on a potential route.

They claimed that each of the proposed closures being replaced with the mobile van, were decided on customer footfall and turnover etc. If this was the case, why are they proposing that Grimscott should be downgraded from a mobile van? There won't have been any new turnover or footfall ­figures since November.

Perhaps it's because a huge and successful campaign changed two post offices from a proposed mobile van service to a hosted service in their existing premises; This has destroyed their cluster of post offices, and Grimscott is no longer on a route of consecutive post offices.

Objections to this appalling treatment of Grimscott should be sent to: Freepost Consultation Team (no stamp required) by March 23.

County Councillor,

Mar­ham­church and Week St Mary, Week St Mary.