POST Office Limited's decision not to reprieve any offices in West Devon has brought brought a scathing reply from West Devon MP Geoffrey Cox.

The closure list for Devon was announced on Tuesday, although decisions have been delayed for some offices.

The Post Office branches now definitely closing include Ford Street in Tavistock, which will not be replaced. Chillaton, Milton Abbot and Postbridge offices will also close but are on the list to be replaced by an 'outreach solution'.

The Post Office's list states it is 'currently engaged in dialogue with key stakeholders over the proposals for funding a number of partner outreach services' in those areas.

The conclusion of these discussions would allow POL to 'finalise the detailed plans for a large number' of the outreach proposals.

There is no detail as to which villages or areas are being covered by the discussions, or what will happen to the places where offices are being closed and not yet covered by a proposal.

West Devon MP Geoffrey Cox said the Post Office closures were 'like letting loose the fox among the chickens'. He condemned the decision to ignore 'informed, relevant and well-thought out arguments' from thousands of people in his constituency.

The MP criticised the Post Office's response to the consultation as 'feeble and inadequate', but reserved his most scathing remarks for the Government.

'It is the Government that turned loose the fox among the chickens and it is no wonder that, given carte blanche, it gobbled so many of them up,' he said.

He said there had been a failure to ensure that outreach proposals were 'credible and sustainable' and to set clear and effective guidelines against closure where the post office supported the last shop in the village or where a rural community was isolated.

Villagers in Chillaton last month took to the streets to protest against the proposals.

They said the nearest alternative was more than four miles away and outside the Government's access criteria, that 95% of the population should be within three miles of a post office.

There is also no public transport from Chillaton to the nearest Post Office in Lifton. And if the post office in the village shop closed, residents fear they could ultimately loose their shop too.

Chillaton sub-postmaster Steve Haigh said they were 'very disappointed that despite all the complaints and reasoning against the closure, no notice had been taken'.

'Hundreds of people wrote in and our local MP campaigned, but it came to nothing,' Mr Haigh said.

He confirmed that POL had asked him if they could put an outreach in the shop instead of sending a van, but nothing had been negotiated yet.

He said the idea of a van was a non-starter.

'There is the possibility we might have an outreach service. It's not a perfect solution but probably better than nothing,' he said.

Unlike the current office situation, no salary would be paid for an outreach, only payment per transaction, so any shops who relied on a Post Office salary would still be under threat from this system, he said.

Decisions affecting changes to services in Buckland Monachorum, Milton Combe, Peter Tavy, Clearbrook and Lamerton, currently served by a Devon and Cornwall Mobile Post Office operating from Tavistock, have been postponed to follow Cornwall's consultation on POL's change programme, which ends on September 1.

The mobile service from Tavistock also visits areas in East Cornwall.