CORNWALL County Council has flung down the gauntlet to the

Government and called for a courtroom showdown over its

controversial programme of post office closures.

At a heated meeting yesterday, members of the authority

unanimously backed a call for a judicial review into the

decision to axe 62 branches in the county.

Councillors say the Post Office has failed to take into

account unique issues which face Cornwall and say the current

consultation is flawed.

If a review is granted and the High Court sides with

Cornwall County Council, it would deal a bitter blow to the

Government and Post Office Ltd – possibly even forcing the

plans to be shelved.

“This consultation period is a joke,” said executive member

of Cornwall County Council, Eric Brooke.

“The Post Office is asking for feedback during the summer,

when Cornwall is busy hosting millions of tourists, and when

many of our councils do not have meetings. They also appear to

have a complete lack of understanding of the issue of rural

poverty and they are using census data from 2001.”

Roger Jones, chairman of the community policy development

and scrutiny committee, which called for the review, condemned

the consultation process as “flawed”.

He said it was essential that the council took urgent action

to prevent some rural villages being left with no amenities at

all.

This, he said, would create serious problems for elderly

people and those without transport.

Angry councillors from across the county condemned the Post

Office proposals to close 49 branches and replace a further 13

by outreach services in Cornwall.

Many criticised the timing of the consultation process,

arguing that it would be almost impossible to carry out a

comprehensive consultation exercise during the summer months,

when many people were on holiday and councils were in summer

recess.

Others pointed out that while the criteria used by the Post

Office identified the issue of urban deprivation, it failed to

take rural poverty into account.

Many Cornish communities have already stepped up to the mark

and launched campaigns to save their local branches before the

consultation period closes at the end of August.

More than 250 people attended meetings in West Cornwall at

the weekend to protest at post offices in villages around

Falmouth and Redruth being shut. Julia Goldsworthy, the MP for

Falmouth and Camborne, has also called for people to write

letters to Post Office Ltd as well as sign petitions.

On Saturday, 75 people marched from St Breward to St Tudy,

on Bodmin Moor, to demonstrate the strength of feeling about

rural post offices.

A spokesman for Post Office Ltd said all comments made

during the consultation period would be taken into account.

Moreover, she added that it was the same period for Cornwall

as everywhere else in the UK.

“We will be taking all the feedback on board and attending

as many of the meetings as we can during the consultation

period.

“The consultation will last six weeks. No-one is off on

holiday for that long so we should be able to talk to all the

relevant people.”

The spokesman added that officials were looking forward to

meeting local people “face to face”.

A spokesman for the Department of Business, which ordered

the closure of 2,500 post office branches nationally, said it

had not yet received any information from Cornwall County

Council about a judicial review.

“We would not comment on any ongoing legal issues,” she

added.

Yesterday, the WMN reported that Postwatch, which advises

the Government on post office services, had declared as

“unsatisfactory” aspects of the consultation on plans to close

up to 45 branches in Devon.

It is understood that around eight of those originally

earmarked will win a reprieve, although a new branch has been

added to the list of closures.