An under-threat village post office will be spared from the axe after Post Office bosses revealed a plan to keep it running.
Acton Burnell Post Office will remain open after an informal agreement was put forward to run the branch alongside a retail business.
The branch had been listed to shut as part of a national programme of closures and was set to be replaced by a mobile van visiting the village at set hours each week.
The move was revealed by Mike Dalton, head of external relations for the Post Office, at a meeting last Friday with borough MP Daniel Kawczynski, borough councillors Peter Nutting and Tim Barker and county council representative Clare Greener.
Exact details about the services available and the hours of opening are unknown, but they are expected to be thrashed out by the end of a consultation period into the closures on June 9.
It’s the first success for the Chronicle’s The Last Post? campaign, and Mr Kawczynski said he hoped to use the news to help save other threatened branches from closure.
Residents and international students at the village’s Concord College had reacted angrily to the proposed closure, claiming it was a vital service for people of all ages in the village.
Mr Dalton said: “The post office service in Acton Burnell will stay on at the premises it already uses, and it will be offered alongside a retail service.
“When our original proposal was launched we put forward the mobile outreach facility as a default position, but we have since reached an informal agreement for Acton Burnell.
“We have consulted with the local community and although we cannot maintain the status quo at present we wanted to retain the service in the village.”
Mr Kawczynski said: “I’m delighted that our campaign has saved this post office. We now need to do everything possible to save the others.
“The Chronicle campaign has been pivotal in helping us drive the message across to the Post Office.”
Postmistress Rose Jackson said she had not yet received any official correspondence from the Post Office and declined to comment further.