CAMPAIGNERS and local MPs in Cornwall today condemned Post Office Limited's decision to axe 48 branches across the county.

The controversial and highly unpopular announcement came after a seven-week public consultation ended on September 1. The first batch of branches in the county will close next month.

Devoran post office near Truro will be one of the first to close its counters.

Postmistress Marie Bird said: "The people are absolutely devastated. We thought it might happen but at the end of the day, we were hoping against hope that it might be saved."

The only glimmer of a lifeline would be the granting next week of a judicial review into the closure programme, launched by Cornwall County Council.

Eleven post offices were told they would be replaced by outreach services.

Devon and Cornwall Mobile Post Office service runs from Tavistock, stopping at 19 locations.

This now means 13 stops along this route will be replaced by an outreach service while four will remain unchanged.

However, eight stops will cease altogether.

Peter Allen, of the campaign to save Altarnun, Village Hall, Altarnum, near Launceston, said they had been left in "limbo" by the decision.

He said: "We've been told that the post office will be replaced by an outreach service but have not been given a date. We've been left dangling and that is simply unacceptable.

"I'm bitterly disappointed that Post Office Limited has not listened to the extremely valid points that we have put forward."

Andrew George, West Cornwall MP, said: "The Post Office has clearly failed to take account of the needs of local communities. This decision contradicts all of the Government's aims to support sustainable communities and a strong environment.

"Our local communities are having to pay with the closure of their post offices and shops in order to maintain an unwieldy and very expensive centralised bureaucracy."

Julia Goldsworthy, MP for Falmouth, hit out at the closure of four branches in her constituency.

Budock and Flushing will close within the next few weeks, but the closures of Killigrew Street and Bar Road will be postponed until Post Office Ltd decides whether to move the main Falmouth branch from The Moor to a nearby supermarket.

Ms Goldsworthy said: "Today marks another sad chapter in a long history of consecutive governments forcing through the erosion of this vital network.

"Post offices are vital services in rural areas, and the Government's failure to recognise this demonstrates how little it understands of our local communities.

"Hundreds of local people have written letters offering clear evidence of why their post office should be saved, and, except for one branch in Redruth, they have been ignored."

Dan Rogerson, MP for North Cornwall, said: "This decision will hit the most vulnerable hardest, and put the future of some of our villages in jeopardy.

"It seems the Government is content to let Cornwall become a sort of theme park, where whole communities are subsumed by second homes and from which local people are driven away by a relentless assault on the services they rely on."

Despite yesterday's overall gloom, some post offices escaped the axe.

Close Hill branch in Redruth will remain open. Julie Orchard, 56, manageress at the branch, said she was delighted the business had been spared.

She said: "I'm shocked that we were the only post office to be saved. I really thought there would have been more – it's a real shame that more weren't. I'm relieved that it's over."

Stephen Barnes, Cornwall County Councillor, said: "I'm delighted that this very valuable resource is staying open. The work and dedication of all in the community had helped to make the Post Office see sense.

"A dark cloud has been lifted from above the heads of the residents and customers. It is wonderful to have good news for a change".

Tim Nickolls, Post Office network development manager for Cornwall, said the closure programme was a Government decision. "These are difficult decisions which have not been taken lightly."