WEST Somerset's rural post offices are under threat due to nationwide cutbacks to the service.

The Post Office is undergoing a national restructuring and modernisation project and rural post offices like those in Williton and Porlock are being forced to make changes.

Adrienne Short, who has been running the Porlock Post Office with her husband Andy for over a decade, said: "The reason the salaries are being taken away is because the government aren’t going to make any contribution towards it anymore.

"It is not something that just affects Porlock but the plight of all post offices across the country.

"Given the choice, 95% of people would like to stay as they are, but that is not going to happen. So you either change or go. The only way you can keep it is if your retail outlet can subsidise the Post Office."

In Porlock, were Adrienne and Andy to give up the Post Office it would most likely move to one of the convenience stores in the village but this would mean losing 50% of the transactions Adrienne can do.

"We’ve got no banks, we have one of the most elderly populations in the country and the buses are down to virtually nothing," Mrs Short said.

"A lot of people who use the Post Office probably can’t drive anymore, and they would find it difficult to get into Minehead to do transactions they wanted to do.

"So having weighed all of that up, we decided to keep it rightly or wrongly. It was definitely the right decision from the village perspective, from our financial side, I’m not sure."

Adrienne and Andy have been asked to keep the Post Office open for extra hours to match the retail shop, The Exmoor Rambler, but do not believe they will get enough extra custom to warrant it saying open on Saturday afternoons.

Dr Ian Kelham said he couldn't see any good reason for the Post Office to stay open extra hours.

"As the local doctor, Andy and Adrienne are looking after the same people I am. They come and use the services and it acts as a community service in effect.

"We have the oldest population in Europe, including lots of 80 and 90-year-olds who need help and so to lose the Post Office would be a complete nightmare."

"My feeling is Adrienne and Andy provide local support and a friendly service, but I do not see why they need to open extra hours. I can't see many elderly people using the Post Office on a Saturday afternoon," Dr Kelham said.

Caroline and Bryan Tyner, who run Williton Post Office, have been told they must take a £500 a month salary cut or the Post Office will be moved into the Spar across the road.

"This is not an option for us as we own the shop the Post Office is based in, and if we lose the Post Office we will lose 50% of our footfall."

"We are grateful for the support of Williton residents but there is a case of use it or lose it and we do not want the Post Office going the same way as NatWest."

Mr Tyner said that it had been a case of bad management from the top.

"As an independent store we have not received a raise in eight years and now they are threatening to cut our funding. They do not appreciate the rural aspect of what we do, a lot of elderly customers rely on us to help them."