CLOSE HILL POST OFFICE SAVED - DESPITE GOVERNMENT CULL ACROSS CORNWALL

1.20.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 23rd Sep 2008

Redruth MP Julia Goldsworthy joined local residents today in celebrating a successful campaign to save Close Hill Post Office.

The Post Office is the only one of all 62 threatened Post Offices across Cornwall that will be saved from the Government's closure programme.

In Julia's constituency of Falmouth and Camborne, four Post Offices are now due to close within a month - those at Carharrack, Pool, Budock Water and Flushing.

Closures in Killigrew Street and Bar Road will be postponed until the future of Falmouth's main Post Office is confirmed.

The final say on all these decisions now depends on the outcome of Cornwall County Council's bid for a judicial review.

Julia said: "Today's announcement is fantastic news for residents in the Close Hill area of Redruth.

"Campaigners have successfully fought off the threat of closure from the Government.

"But the news elsewhere will be a bitter blow for the hundreds of people in Carharrack, Budock, Pool, Flushing and Falmouth whose views have been ignored.

"Unless the judicial review application is successful, these closures will now be going ahead in a matter of weeks, and many older and vulnerable people will no longer be able to access services that are a lifeline for them and their wider community."

Miss Goldsworthy - who led a campaign against the closures in her constituency - paid tribute to all the people who had attended meetings and written letters of protest.

She said: "Success for Redruth's Close Hill Post Office is a small ray of hope on what is a very dark day indeed for many communities in Cornwall.

"Tribute must be paid to the hundreds of people who participated in public meetings in the so-called consultation process.

"It has been a real demonstration of support, not just for their local Post Office, but also of the strength of their community.

"I will now be working with them to explore any alternative that may ensure some kind of access to services is preserved."