SO it seems it's going to be down to local councils like Essex to take the initiative in saving what post offices they can afford.

Redbridge has at last said it's considering doing the same and is at least putting forward a case to retain the five in Redbridge destined for closure.

But at what and whose cost? Can we look forward to the councillors cancelling some of their £1.5million salary increases or even the new Town Hall Square or Olympic pool projects so much else is being cut for or sold off for?

And how long before the essential' local post office gets dispensed with a few years on for something more essential?

Pat MacFadden confirmed 2,500 post offices are closing come what may and it's now only down to local communities to fight among themselves to argue a case for the current list being wrong.

Nice, very nice; get us all fighting each other instead of those actually responsible. The moral case against closures is unwinable; it's only on the four specific criteria that a previous decision could be overturned, and it's only one of those that could still be changed by the actual members of the community affected: the number of transactions.

We can directly influence the close or reconsider' decision by apparently increasing how many times it's used.

If every transaction is logged, however small ,together we could make enough difference by everybody buying just a stamp or two once or twice a week over the coming weeks.

Line up our children to buy stamps too. It will add thousands of transactions in days. Who knows, we might even save all Redbridge's five proposed closures (temporarily).

Now where are those 1,000 new residents we don't want when you need them, eh?

Richard Walker Forest Approach, Woodford Green