ALBASTON residents spoke of their sadness this week that the village post office is on the hit list of those facing closure in Cornwall.

The post office, which has been in existence since 1906, is one of 49 proposed for closure and people now have five weeks to make their views known to Post Office Ltd.

Albaston is the only post office in Calstock Parish that is earmarked for closure. The other four — Calstock, Harrowbarrow, St Ann's Chapel and Gunnislake — look set to be retained. Other local post offices on the hit list include Luckett and the mobile service at St Mellion.

Paul Smale, who works at a residential home in Albaston and also lives in the area, said a lot of elderly people would be affected if the post office was to go: 'There are a lot of hills around here and it is not easy to walk anywhere. There is a local service station down the road but it is not the same.

'The postmistress is a really friendly person and there is a real community thing going on there,.

'She has even sold local produce that people have grown in their gardens. It is places like this that make a village special.'

Gladys Williams gets her pension, buys her stamps and her newspaper at the post office. She has signed a petition to try and save the facility: 'I cannot walk very far and will have to rely on someone else to drive me to another post office if this one closes,' she said.

'The people who own it have been there two years and have worked really hard and introduced lots of new things in the shop.'

Other residents said elderly people would feel more isolated because the post office brought a social aspect to the community. One said she had used it for 25 years and it was going to be 'big blow'.

County Cllr for Gunnislake Godfrey Smale said Albaston had always been a very busy post office and closing it would mean a long walk to St Ann's Chapel or Gunnislake. 'We will do all we can to try and retain this post office,' he said.

Owner of Albaston Post Office Susan Anderson said: 'Sadly, the shop cannot survive without the post office customers so I am very reluctantly forced to close a shop that has been in existence for over 200 years and a post office since 1906 — a sad time for me as the owner and a sad time for Albaston as we are the last shop left.'

Speaking about the proposed closure of the mobile post office service at St Mellion, county cllr for the village Tony Nettle it was services like this and the mobile library that provided a contact for elderly people.

'Sometimes these will be the only faces some people see in a day or a week and they are vitally important. Just because it may not be very well used at the moment it does not mean to say it won't be in the near future. Once a service is gone it will never come back.'

Meanwhile, Neil Burden, who represents the Stoke Climsland parish on the county council, said he was 'very relieved' that the most pro-active post offices in his area, including Stoke Climsland, were to be retained.

'I am relieved this area has not suffered like other areas,' he said. 'The most pro-active and enthusiastic postmasters and postmistresses are helping to maintain these pivots of community life and they are hanging in there.'

But he warned people not to become complacent and to fight for their post office even if it was not on the hit list: 'Nowhere is definitely safe,' he said.

Post Office Ltd made the proposals following the Government's decision to reduce the UK wide network of post office branches by up to 2,500 from its current level of 14,000 in order to provide funding to support 'a more sustainable network' in the future.

Proposals have been made in line with the criteria and factors set by the Government including accessibility. Post Office Ltd said under the proposals, more than 98% of the area's population will see either no change to their nearest branch or will remain within one mile of an alternative branch.

A spokesman for the company said it was up to the public to inform them if they thought any of the proposals were wrong.

He said: 'We are asking people whether we have made the right choice or have we missed anything important that suggests we should change our decision on particular post offices,' he said.

South East Cornwall MP Colin Breed said Albaston post office served a very wide rural area: 'Cutting costs by cutting access will not help in the long term,' he said. 'We should be encouraging people to use their local post office and closing them flies in the face of this.'