RESIDENTS in Bere Alston are rallying together find a solution to the impending possible closure of the village Post Office.

At a public meeting on Tuesday, residents were told that the current owners are looking to sell the Post Office business and premises due to health reasons. If a buyer and new Post Master are not found, the facility would be replaced with a Post Office Local, which offers more limited services hosted in other buildings such as village halls, pubs, shops or veterinary centres.

Representatives from the local authorities attended to show their support and offer ideas as to how to overcome the problem, including West Devon Borough ward member Mike Benson, borough council leader and Devon County Councillor for the area Philip Sanders, enterprise manager for the Community Council for Devon Dawn Eckhart and MP for West Devon and Torridge, Geoffrey Cox.

Former Post Mistress Marion Gray is now back helping in the Post Office with manager Yvonne Hicks while owner Mrs Case is unwell.

She said: 'Mrs Case is ill and they cannot continue, so they have been trying hard to sell it but it has not been very fruitful. We can either keep it as one entity or two — someone could buy the premises or the Post Office business.'

Marion said there had been one or two people that had shown interest in the Post Master job but they had to be vetted and approved by the Post Office, and the position would be useless without the premises to run it.

Dawn Eckhart suggested that as with many other villages in Devon, the community could rally together to purchase and run the business themselves, creating a community enterprise.

She said there were a number of grants and funding sources available for this kind of project as well as the community having to create some of their own money by fundraising.

Dawn and resident Geoffrey Stole both suggested the possibility of selling shares to buy the Post Office. Mr Stole proposed large shares from several residents who would manage the business together, and Dawn proposed smaller shares from lots of residents, which would allow residents to have common ownership of the premises.

Mr Cox said: 'The Post Office will survive if the community has the commitment to keep it. There'll be plenty of advice, finance and help with a business plan. I can put you in touch with all the right people who can help.'

It was decided that a working party should be formed to explore the ideas and decide on the best option.

Volunteers came forward at the end of the meeting and a working party of 15 was formed.