Two more Post Office outlets axed

The Post Office said 162 branches would remain open

The Post Office is to axe two further branches in Dorset which had been put "under review" following a seven-week public consultation.

In September it was announced that 26 branches would close as part of a cost-cutting plan to shut 2,500 branches nationwide by the end of the year.

The Ministry of Defence's Blandford Camp site and Buxton Road, Weymouth, were put "under further review".

But the Post Office said on Tuesday both branches will also close.

The Post Office said 162 branches would remain in the county, and claim that 99% of residents would see no change. The first closures began last month.

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The Post Office received 1,500 responses during the public consultation and held 17 meetings with customers.

Tim Nickolls, Post Office Ltd's network development manager for Dorset, said: "We appreciate that any decision to close a Post Office branch will be unpopular.

"However, some difficult decisions had to be taken in order to put the network on a more stable footing for the future and to achieve this in a way which best meets the demands and concerns of its customers."

The government announced the nationwide wave of 2,500 closures in December 2006 following a 12-week national consultation.

It said four million fewer people were using the current 14,000-strong network each week than two years earlier.