PROTESTORS gathered outside Mitchel­dean library at the weekend, to raise awareness of their case against the proposed move of the Post Office from its current location to Old Smithy Stores on New Road.

Around 40 people waved banners and placards on Saturday and encouraged other villagers to add their names to their petition against the move, which has now reached over 450 signatures.

The Post Office says it will now review the information gathered during the consultation which closed on Tuesday.

Local businessman Colin Wozencroft tsaid: "The Post Office have really made a poor job of this consultation – and they should come clean with us. We feel we have been bamboozled by them. Their documents to support the move for the Post Office to the stores states that the distance from the old shop is 100 metres, but it is actually over 300 metres. They have also said that there is parking outside the store, but they haven't taken into account that people would have to reverse out to get back onto the busy main street through the village."

He added: "They seem intent on ripping the heart out of the village. They claimed to have talked with other businesses about possible locations for the new post office, but that simply is not the case."

Dan Hemms, landlord of the White Hart pub in Mitcheldean, confirmed that he had not been consulted about considering his premises housing the Post Office, and that when he approached them about the possibility of his taking on the business, they refused to put his application forward.

He said: "This has been really quite prejudicial - they said that they had approached other businesses in finding a new home for the Post Office – but they hadn't asked me. When I took this to them they said that, due to the numbers of customers that the local Post Office have, a pub isn't appropriate. They actually only approached businesses that fitted their own criteria, which in my mind is too selective.

"They also told me two weeks ago that the public consultation was actually closed – when it still had a fortnight to run."

In the light of the errors on the Post Office consultation documents and the confusion over potential new sites for the Post Office Mr Wozencroft has called for the current consultation process to be discarded and a new one started. He said: "The Post Office seem to have come to the important decisions all by themselves and basically are acting like this is a done deal. We will continue to fight them over the siting of the Post office. I don't think they have looked at all the options properly, and they have been less than forthcoming when we have tried to communicate with them."

A Post Office spokes­man said: "We corrected and apologised for the original consultation material which contained the wrong distance between the existing Mitcheldean Post Office branch and the proposed new location at Old Smithy Stores.  Updated material was produced.     

"From the businesses that expressed interest in taking on the branch when the vacancy was first advertised, The Post Office believes the proposals to operate the branch alongside the convenience store offering at The Old Smithy Stores is the best option to secure Post Office services for the future. If the proposals proceed customers would have access to Post Office products and services 7 days a week and opening hours would more than double.  The new opening hours would be 06:00 to 22:30 Monday to Saturday and 07:30 to 22:30 on Sunday. 

"However before we finalise our plans and make a final decision we do want to consider the views of our customers and any concerns they may have.  We will review the information submitted to us during consultation, which closed on 11 June, before making our final decision.  This includes that gathered at a meeting held with the landlord of the White Horse Pub and a public meeting held in the village.   We thank all of the interested parties who submitted information as part of the consultation process."