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THE last post will soon be sounded for at least two local Swindon post offices.

Facilities in Cheney Manor Road and Westcott Place will definitely close in the coming months.

And the fate of the outlets at Lawn and Lydiard Millicent will be announced today by the Post Office.

The four post offices were placed in the company's firing line late last year, and the announcement prompted uproar from the communities they serve.

Cheney Manor Road postmaster Mohammed Choudhary said the decision meant five people would lose their jobs.

"I feel very sorry about the situation," he said.

"It just seems like in spite of all the support and backing we have had from everyone the Post Office don't really care.

"It feels like they haven't bothered with the views of local people.

"I'm going to be getting the standard compensation they give postmasters but right now I still don't know what I'm going to do for the future.

"I'm going to be selling my shop as well. Without the post office, there's no reason to keep the shop open. I'm going to be unemployed and all the people who work here part-time will be in the same situation."

Coun Des Moffat (Lab, Western) said: "I haven't given up. If this information is true then it just an absolutely stupid decision.

"It is not fair to close an economically successful business, which is what Cheney Manor Post Office is. In 10 or 15 years we might be in a time when everything is done electronically but we aren't there yet. The people who use the post office really need it."

Coun Derique Montaut (Lab, Central) said of the Westcott Place closure: "It seems that the concerns of the local community have been ignored. The council now needs to find a way for residents to tap into the services they would have used at the post office through other alternative means. They have a moral obligation to attend to the needs of the community."

South Swindon MP Anne Snelgrove added: "I am extremely disappointed with the news that a post office that I, and the local community, fought so hard to save will be closed. The strength of feeling from the community has been evident in the number of signatures on the petition that I collected."

Lydiard Millicent Parish Council chairman Tom Pepperall said that he believed that the post office in the Toomers Garden Centre would close, as the threat of its closure had met little public opposition.

Nobody from Lawn Post Office would comment until they were told what the decision was.

9:11am Friday 22nd February 2008

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