In small coastal village on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall we have a small post office which sells a few stationery items, cards and charity goods but is generally run down. The present owner and postmistress is past retirement age and wants to sell as soon as possible and there are no potential purchasers. The post office has survived the recent round of closures but if no-one is prepared to take on the building and run it as a post office, it will undoubtedly close and will be lost to the community. To continue its operation one would need £80 to £90k to purchase and perhaps a further £30k for renovations/ working capital. The village, typically, has more than its fair share of second homes and retired residents but were wondering whether sufficient interest and commitment exists to take forward the project as a community enterprise. We were thinking on the lines of a charitable trust with a management committee employing one or more part time workers and the community being share holders in the enterprise. There are limited commercial opportunities as we have a village shop, two gift shops and several food outlets. We have a community website at www.coverack.org.uk and you can see the post office and other shops at http://www.coverack.org.uk/pages/shops.html Could you comment on whether you think this might be a reasonable approach and whether we might be eligible for grant support? Depending on what you think, we would do some preliminary consultations as to what response we receive. The suggestion will be considered by the Parish Council on Thursday Look forward to your comments. With thanks and best wishes,

Our Post Office was not on the recent list of Dorset closures, and in theory can now continue as before alongside the village shop, subject to any disturbance(hopefully unlikely)during the consultation period. However, we were not entirely surprised to find, now that we can discuss with the shop-owner/sub-postmaster, that the shop has been over-dependent on the PO for several years and is in need both of capital investment and of some marketing advice to improve trade. It certainly would not survive if our PO were to be culled in a few years' time. Can you please advise on;- 1) Sources of marketing advice plus funding available to contribute to its costs? 2) Sources of investment/loan capital via Triodos Bank and similar that the community could support at arms length?

Our village has one shop/post office. Some weeks ago there was a robbery at the shop. Following this the owner closed the shop and the post office. However it subsequently came to light that the the owner had cancelled her Post Office contract(which was not one designated for closure) about two weeks previously. This was done without any consultation with the village and without informing the Parish Council. The owner's husband is a member of the Parish Council and, despite the obvious conflict of interest, continues to participate in the council discussions on the grounds that "the shop is now closed therefore no conflict exists". The discussions have become very hostile with a small cabal of their friends determined to block any attempt to explore options for re-opening the shop which is now on the market for sale. However it is clear that they would prefer to sell it for a higher price as a home rather than a business. I understand that under current legislation they cannot change use for a period of 12 months. There is a significant group in the village who would like to find a more constructive way forward. My question is around the legal rights and wrongs of this situation, and whether there are any rural support mechanisms which might allow / support some sort of consortium approach to buying the shop and re-opening both the shop and the Post Office. Clearly this has a profoundly negative effect on the village community.