EAST Lancashire's lone Tory MP has called for government action to save the area's village sub-post offices.

The Ribble Valley's Nigel Evans is alarmed at a new report which shows that a staggering 200 such institutions are closing every year because of competition from nearby towns and lack of support from local communities.

He expressed concerned at a report from the National Federation of Sub Postmasters which warns that small village post offices could be rare in ten years unless urgent action is taken to halt the decline.

Mr Evans will write to ministers to demand action to help small sub post offices survive.

He fears that many of these crucial shops could close in his constituency and elsewhere in East Lancashire unless the government acts.

The report says that the costs of running a village sub post office have risen while pay is as low as £10,000 a year. Colin Baker, general secretary of the federation which represents most of Britain's 10,000 sub post offices said: "The village sub post office-cum-shop is an important feature of rural life, but the economics of running such a business remain very difficult.

"Depopulation of rural areas, people travelling to work and changing shopping habits and the encroachment of superstores have caused growing concern about the future of the entire rural network."

The federation has called for government support to "breathe life" back into rural communities, including an enterprise grant to sub post offices and incorporating other businesses such as libraries and tourist boards into the village post office shop.

It also wants the national postal system to be given greater commercial freedom.

Mr Evans said: "I am in total agreement with this. Sub post offices are vital to villages and are often the only shop there.

"They are vital for elderly people in villages with little or no public transport who have rare access to private cars.

"What we need is action from the government and I will be urging ministers to do just that.

"We need moves to exempt them from business rates and also need enterprise grants.

"The government needs to take action to help them to bring in other government bodies such as libraries and tourist boards using new technology.

"They need to be encouraged. In Downham the sub post office is the only shop and in Pendleton there is an imaginative example where the pub acts as the local post office.

"We must take action to make sure they are saved, otherwise it will rip the heart from our beautiful villages."

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