FEARS have been voiced that a neighbourhood post office will shut permanently.

The Toothill branch is to shut next month for a “temporary” period – but the Post Office said it did not know how long “temporary” means.

And ward councillor Steve Wakefield (Lab, Toothill and Westlea) says he feared the worst as soon as he got a letter notifying him of the closure.

In response to the Adver’s enquiries, the Post Office released a statement reading: “Regrettably, following the resignation of the subpostmaster, the above branch will be closing temporarily at 12.30 on Saturday 21 May 2011.

“It remains our intention to keep a Post Office service in Toothill and the vacancy we are currently investigating the options available”.

A spokesman for the Post Office said he could not say how long it would take to reopen.

But Coun Wakefield said there were two other branches nearby, one around a mile away in the West Swindon Centre and another a mile-and-a-half away in Freshbrook.

Now he fears these will be used as long-term substitutes for the soon-to-close Toothill branch.

He said: “It looks to me like they’re maybe going to dissolve it and move out to those post offices.

“They’ve said: Our intention is to keep the post office, and we are currently investigating options.

“But the word ‘intention’ is open to interpretation.

“There’s a lot of things you ‘intend’ to do. A bit like your New Year’s resolutions.

“And to me the Post Office intending to do something is worth as much as a New Year’s resolution. How many do you make, and how many do you keep to?

“A post office is an essential public service. It shouldn’t be about what they intend to do. It’s more about what they should do.

“The message is we don’t want to lose our post office.”

He is now collecting signatures in support of keeping the post office there.

While waiting for our photographer to arrive yesterday, he said he collected nearly 100 signatures from supportive residents.

The Post Office stands inside an existing Tesco store in Dunwich Drive.

The news comes just a fortnight after the Adver reported on a Consumer Focus report, which warned that one in five sub-post offices could shut in years to come.

It said the widespread closures could follow from a scheme called Post Office Local, which could see more branches run in places like retail outlets and garages.