RESIDENTS in Tipton St John are coming together to take action after the Post Office announced the village branch faces closure.

RESIDENTS in Tipton St John are coming together to take action after the Post Office announced the village branch faces closure.

The news broke on Tuesday when an official list of Devon post office branches earmarked for closure was released, triggering a six week local consultation period, where those affected will be able to have their say.

Alita Pace, Tipton subpostmaster, said: "It's a bit shocking, even though we know that post offices will be closing down. It's amazing how many people have been coming in. They really are very good. When we had the petition, there were about 150 signatures, which is good for a small village.

"I have been here for 11 years and for me I was ready to go, but the reaction from the people has been amazing. It's really sad to close the post office, it really is. It would be nice to leave it as it is."

A public meeting, called by Devon County Councillor Roger Giles, was due to take place on Thursday night.

Mr Giles said: "The purpose of the meeting is first of all to get the view of the community on whether they want the post office to continue, which I'm sure they will. If we lost it, it would have a damaging effect on Tipton. Once we have a clear view, we will look at what can be done."

Tim Nickolls, Post Office network development manager for Devon, said: "Taking the decision to close any Post Office branch is always very difficult and we know will cause concern to many of our customers. We want to ensure that everyone who uses, relies on or has any concern with Post Office services is both fully aware of the proposed changes, and able to give views on them.

"Post Office Ltd must reduce the number of branches. The purpose of this public consultation is to ensure that we have the best available local knowledge to allow us to make the most informed decisions about, which branches should close or be replaced by an outreach service."

The public consultation period ends on June 30. To give your view, write to Tim Nickolls, Network Development Manager, C/0 National Consultation Team, Freepost Consultation Team, email consultation@postoffice.co.uk or call 08457 223344.