VALE MP Peter Luff is supporting Evesham residents in their bid to get the town's post office back into the High Street.

He was outraged to hear of the planned closure next Spring of the Co-op at the Riverside Shopping Centre which houses the town's main post office.

Now Mr Luff is writing to the head's of the Royal Mail and Oxford, Swindon and Gloucester Co-op demanding that Evesham's post office be returned to its former High Street premises which are still empty.

He is also tabling parliamentary questions urging ministers to investigate what happened in Evesham which, the MP says, "had fatal consequences for the whole Post Office strategy of closing major high street post offices and transferring them to the back of supermarkets and other shops."

In his letter to chief executive of Royal Mail Adam Crozier, Mr Luff said the situation in Evesham was entirely foreseeable and that townsfolk had suffered a second rate service since the change of location and that it is now time to restore to Evesham a proper post office service in the town centre.

Mr Luff said: "When this idea was rushed through after a bogus consultation four years ago, I warned that the people of Evesham would suffer. "

Paul Maisey, head of area for Post Office Ltd, said: "We are exploring every avenue possible to maintain post office provision in the town centre. "