A villager has pledged to reopen a post office as a community-run service.

A volunteer has today offered to run the facility at Layer de la Haye.

The announcement comes just hours after a meeting at the village hall which discussed how they could get the service up and running.

Parish council chairman Anne Hughes described how residents missed the village post office and said they had to face the expense and inconvenience of travelling to other post offices.

She said: "We miss being able to collect our weekly pension or child allowance, or other benefits in cash from the post office."

The village's 2,000 residents have been without a post office after sub post mistress Gillian Brown retired in October last year.

Since then no one has been keen to take over as they would have to pay a £16,000 relocation fee.

Post Office Counters retail network manager Gary Herbert admitted the fee was a sticking point but was normal business practice. He told residents the fee would be waived for a community run service which could be open for two to three mornings a week.

He warned a new venue would have to be secure. He said Post Office Counters could pay for essential work including £2,500 for a security screen, £2,000 for an alarm, £1,000 for a safe and several thousand pounds for training.

Mrs Hughes pledged Layer would have a post office.

"I had someone contact me who offered to run a community post office but the parish council will have to find a suitable venue."

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