MONMOUTH MP Huw Edwards is taking the campaign to save a threatened post office to Westminster.

The Stanhope Street Post Office in Abergavenny is one of 25 in Gwent already closed or earmarked for closure because Post Office Ltd says too many branches compete for too few customers.

Once a regular customer of the branch, the MP says he knows the valuable service it provides to the community.

Mr Edwards asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what public consultation was undertaken bef ore the decision was made to close Stanhope Street Post Office.

Mr Edwards said: "I wrote to the Post Office to represent residents who do not want to see the office closure and wish to see its business transferred to a nearby venue." He has now asked for a meeting with Post Office chiefs and tabled parliamentary questions in the House of Commons.

If the current programme of closures is completed, Gwent will have lost 25 of 73 urban offices in less than 12 months - more than a third.

Urban post offices in Llantar nam; Croesyceiliog and Green willows, Cwmbran, Free holdland and High Street, Ponty pool, Fields Park Road and Royal Oak, Newport, Bloom field Road, Blackwood, and Pontywaun have already closed.

And offices in Sebastopol; Blenheim Square, Cwmbran; Pontrhydyrun, Caerleon Road, Stow Park and Gaskell Street, Newport; Portskewett; and Cal dicot will permanently close, along with Stanhope Street, at the beginning of next month, taking the total number of closures to 17 since June 2003.

Offices in Badminton Grove; Beaufort Hill; Garnlydan; Rassau; Waunlwyd; Willow town, Ebbw Vale; Cefn Golau, Tredegar; and Malpas Road, Newport, remain threatened following a period of consultation with the public.