THE last post has been sounded bringing closures to post office branches around the Cotswolds.

The confirmation of which post offices would face the axe was announced just half an hour ago by Post Office Ltd.

The monumental effort from the local communities campaigning against the closure of Stratton and The Beeches post offices was for nothing as their names appeared side-by-side on the list.

Meysey Hampton Post Office will also be included in the closures - with the first ones scheduled to take place next month.

The only good news was the announcement that the branches at Miserden and Rendcomb will have a further six-week period of consultation on the specific details of the Outreach service proposed to replace them. The date of this consultation will be confirmed shortly.

During the six week local public consultation, Post Office Ltd received around 3700 responses and attended 35 meetings with customers and their representatives across Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire.

Post Office Ltd says all information provided by customers formed part of the final decision regarding each affected branch.

Mark Partington, Post Office Ltd's Network Development Manager for Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, said: "These are difficult decisions which have not been taken lightly.

"We have considered very carefully all the comments made during the public consultation.

"We believe that the amended plan announced today offers our customers across Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire the best prospect for a sustainable network in the future, bearing in mind the Government's minimum access criteria and the other factors it has asked us to consider."

Full details of the decisions and the issues raised during local public consultation are available by visiting www.postoffice.co.uk/networkchange For local reaction to the decision see the Standard on Thursday.