"I am deeply shocked by this decision"

This is how the Echo have covered the news that our post office is due to close...

ONE of the most popular South Wales branches on the Post Office’s hit list WILL definitely close, it has been revealed.

Llantrisant post office’s fate will be officially announced on Tuesday but the Echo has learned that residents’ fight to save it has been in vain.

Pontypridd AM Jane Davidson said Post Office chiefs had told her that the Swan Street branch, run for 15 years by Colin Cranness and his wife Lynne, would close.

Assembly climate change minister Ms Davidson said: “I am not only deeply disappointed, I am deeply shocked by this decision.

“I came up this morning to see the postmaster and all the time I have been here the post office has been regularly used.”

She said the post office was at the heart of life in Llantrisant.

As reported in the Echo yesterday, two post offices – Splott Road, Cardiff, and High Street, Barry – will be given a reprieve when the Post Office announces the results of its consultation on Tuesday.

The future now looks bleak for the remaining 29 branches on the region’s closure proposals but residents of Llantrisant had hoped that their hard-fought campaign would see them through.

As part of their fight, nearly 40 residents travelled up to London on Wednesday to see Pontypridd MP Kim Howells and present him with a portrait of “hilly Llantrisant” by a local artist.

Speaking immediately after she returned from London, Mrs Cranness told the Echo that they would fight to the bitter end to save the branch. She said the support of residents had been “wonderful”.

“So many letters have been sent off,” she said.

Postmasters have now been told of the decisions affecting their branch and asked not to speak to the press until the official announcement.

Resident John Gilheaney, who has set up a website, http://save llantrisantpostoffice.blogspot.com, said: “This is a huge blow to the community of Llantrisant, particularly for the elderly and for business people in the town. I feel sorry for Colin and Lynne, who have run our post office so well for so long.”

david.james@mediawales.co.uk