RESIDENTS in a York village are to be asked to back a campaign to safeguard their post office from the threat of closure.

Villagers in Copmanthorpe will be asked to support the service after Royal Mail last month revealed plans to close thousands of post offices across the country.

The village postmaster will meet parish councillors on Tuesday to discuss how people can battle to retain the service.

The parish council then hopes to hold a public meeting to launch a village-wide campaign in mid-March to get more people using the post office.

Mike Irwin, chairman of the parish council, said: "Like all post offices, it is under threat. We want to take some precautionary action to encourage people to use the service.

"We want to defuse any further risk of it closing because we would be devastated without it."

In December, The Press reported how dozens of post offices across York and North Yorkshire faced the axe after Royal Mail bosses unveiled plans to shut about 7,000 across the country.

Selby MP John Grogan warned up to 59 branches - used by thousands of customers every year - could be shut across the county under the plans.

Using House of Commons library records, Mr Grogan revealed thes number of post offices in York had dropped from 25 in 1999 to 18 in 2005, in the Vale of York from 68 to 49, while in Selby the number had gone up by one from 44 to 45.

Coun Irwin said: "You see all these threats in the paper about the Government wanting to close them, so we are hopeful that if we bring people's attention to the plight of the post office it might encourage people to use the services more.

"It also applies to the rest of the shops. We do not want to see them vanish.

"We desperately need to keep the business centre of the village as strong as we possibly can."

Sub-postmaster Terry Greenwood said: "I think the parish council have been fantastic. The support we have got from them is superb. It is not only just for the old people, it is for everybody within the community. It would desperately hurt the community if it closes. Even the local shops would suffer if it was shut."