POST Office bosses will today reveal which Cornish branches

are to face the axe under the latest in a series of closures

which have already seen seven Plymouth counters put under

threat.

As many as 50 branches are expected to be on the hit list,

including several in South East Cornwall.

Some are likely to be closed completely, while others may be

replaced by an 'outreach' service, running from facilities such

as a village hall or pub.

It is thought main towns with more than one branch will be

among those losing services.

A six-week consultation on the closures begins today, as

soon as the list is made public and the postal watchdog

Postwatch is urging people to fight for their branches by

telling Post Office chiefs why they should stay open.

A similar consultation on 45 under-threat Devon post offices

has just ended with The Herald sending Post Office Ltd 445

coupons from readers, each making a case for why an

under-threat city branch should remain.

A decision on those counters' futures will be known in the

next two weeks.

Now the latest threat to the Cornish post offices, part of a

Government cost-cutting drive to shed 2,500 of the 14,300

branches nationally, has been condemned by opposition MPs.

The Liberal Democrats want to keep the counters trading and

said more post offices should be opened in areas where they are

needed.

Former Plymouth city councillor Karen Gillard, who is now

the Lib Dem parliamentary spokesperson for South East Cornwall,

said: “I'm very concerned at how hard Cornwall will be hit.

It's not whether there will be closures, but how many there

will be.”

She said the threatened closures could seriously dent

'community cohesion' at a time when the fabric of society is

already under attack.

“This Government wants to take the centre out of many

communities,” she said.

A Postwatch spokeswoman said users of under-threat branches

must use the consultation by submitting valid reasons why those

counters should not close.

She said these could include deficiencies in public

transport, problems caused by terrain or topography, such as

steep hills, and the inability of the next nearest post office

to cope with an influx of new customers.

She said 'detailed letters' were preferable to petitions,

which only gage public opinion but don't set out arguments.

A Post Office Ltd spokeswoman said the firm will accept

written or emailed reasons why branches should be saved.

She said bosses would be 'attending meetings' arranged in

areas where a branch could get the chop.