ALBASTON'S 102-year-old post office will close along with 47 others in Cornwall over the next three months, Post Office Ltd confirmed this week.
The closure announcement follows a seven-week public consultation and just one threatened branch in the county, at Redruth, has been saved from the axe.
Albaston, Luckett and St Mellion mobile service will all close in the Post Office review which has been carried out to make the service network more sustainable.
Some 228 branches will remain and Post Office Ltd claims that 98% of Cornwall's population will either see no change to their existing branch or will remain within one mile of an alternative branch.
But the decision is a blow for campaigners. County councillor for Calstock Godfrey Smale said Albaston had always been a thriving little post office but in recent years it had not been so busy because there were other ways for people to receive their pension and other services which had traditionally been dealt with by the post office.
'As a county council we are still pressing ahead for a judicial review of the Post Office's decision,' he said. 'We are vehemently against the closure programme — there are more post offices going in Cornwall than anywhere else in the country.'
Post Office Ltd's network development manager for Cornwall Tim Nickolls said: 'These are difficult decisions which have not been taken lightly. We have considered very carefully all the comments made during the public consultation.
'We believe that the amended plan announced today (Tuesday) offers our customers across Cornwall the best prospect for a sustainable network in the future, bearing in mind the Government's minimum access criteria and the other factors it has asked us to consider.'
During the seven-week local public consultation, Post Office Ltd received more than 3,900 responses and attended 19 meetings with customers and their representatives to understand their concerns. All information provided by customers formed part of the final decision regarding each affected branch, claimed the company.
Owner of Albaston Post Office Susan Anderson declined to make any further comment to the East Cornwall Times this week. She said in a recent article that the shop could not survive without the post office and she was very reluctant to close a shop which had been in existence for more than 200 years and a post office since 1906.
Elderly residents said they would feel more isolated because the post office had a social aspect to it as well as being a place to get their pensions and buy their newspapers, stamps and groceries.
Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate for South East Cornwall Karen Gillard said the decision had left her 'devastated and horrified' and she added it would 'rip the heart out of so many communities'.
l A hearing will take place at the Royal Courts of Justice on October 3 as part of Cornwall County Council's overall application judicially to review the proposals by Post Office Ltd.
The application for interim relief, if granted, would prevent Post Office Ltd from closing any of the post offices in Cornwall that it has announced this week until the claim has been determined.