PENSIONERS in Ilkley could be left without vital services if the Leeds Road Post Office ends up on a closure hit list.

Post office owner Kam Basra has asked Ilkley Parish Council for support because she fears that the Dean Street Post Office will be included in the next cull of nationwide postal businesses.

At a meeting this week, parish councillor Michael Gibbons said: "I was informed by the lady who owns the post office on Leeds Road that she has been notified that she was under threat of closure under the proposals recently announced.

"That service to the community would be a terrible loss. She told me today that there will be a consultation of sorts. But the list that will be produced on this occasion unlike the previous occasion will be definite and those on the list will go. I think that is absolutely unacceptable.

"A lot of residents use that office the loss of a postal service there and the inability to access a postal service would be a tremendous loss. We should put a strong case for the retention of that unit."

The Dean Street shop is also a newsagents and off-licence and is located opposite a complex of old people's flats.

Jean Tales, who lives in the complex, said: "It would be a great loss. I use it for everything that needs to be done at a Post Office.

"It's so very useful for the elderly people around here too. It's quite a long walk for them to the main Post Office. I just hope it doesn't close."

Pensioner Robert Rishworth also lives opposite the Post Office. He said: "I use it and I think it's convenient for people.

"I pay my rent there, I do my shopping there and I pay all my bills there, so I'll miss it if it is closing. I'm sure the other people will feel the same as I do.

"At the moment I'm physically strong enough to go to the other Post Office. But what's going to happen in a few years when I can't get there? Everybody in this complex is a pensioner, so what's going to happen?"

Another neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said: "I wouldn't like to see it closed myself because I get my bits and bobs there."

Kam Basra said the fate of the shop was out of her hands, and will be decided later this month.

She said: "I think the elderly residents would be devastated. Young children from the school next door also use the shop.

"It's a good service for the community. This side of town hasn't got much any more. Ilkley is quite a large town now, and we've only got two Post Offices as it is. It's an unnerving time."

Parish Councillor Kathy Best said: "It serves a lot of elderly people, some of who are housebound and it also serves a social purpose.

"It is a facility that is available for everybody and it is particularly useful for people who live round there particularly the elderly."

In December the Government announced that between 2,500 and 3,000 post offices faced closure because of financial losses.

The Department of Trade and Industry described the current size of the network of 14,000 post offices as unsustainable' and the Royal Mail said the size of the network depended on the level of Government funding.