A PUBLIC meeting will be held next Tuesday (February 8) to see if there is a way forward for Chillaton Village Shop and Post Office.

Milton Abbot Parish Council is looking at different options following the announcement of the closure of the shop and post office by the owners Steve and Linda Haigh.

The Haighs said in a recent article in the Times that they had been subsidising the business from their own resources and this could not continue indefinitely.

The full-time post office service was closed two years ago by Post Office Ltd and replaced with an outreach service which 'paid peanuts', said Mr Haigh, and the services were limited.

The owners said the loss of the postmaster's salary and competition from supermarket deliveries had taken its toll on the business. The shop is due to close on March 26.

Parish councillors have met with representatives from Post Office Ltd and the Rural Shop Alliance to discuss the possible options and these will be shared with local residents at the public meeting in Marystow School hall on Tuesday at 7.30pm.

Vice-chair of the parish council Bridget Passmore said: 'The post office is obliged to keep some sort of post office service facility available — it is just how we achieve that and at what level we can manage it in the village.'