POST offices in Gwent face an anxious wait as the Post Office makes its final decision on sweeping closure plans.

More than 20 offices face the axe under the proposals designed to close 2,500 offices across the UK.

A six-week consultation period finished yesterday and Post Office chiefs are set to decide in the coming weeks if any of those facing the axe have earned a reprieve.

A Post Office spokeswoman confirmed a decision should be made by mid-March.

More than 12,000 residents have shown their support by signing petitions against the closures.

Helen Kennedy, postmistress at Christchurch Road Post Office, said : "It is a very nervous time.

"The people around here could not have done any more. We are quietly confident and we definitely have a case, but we will have to wait and see."

The Post Office says the cuts are necessary as the organisation is losing between £3 million and £4 million every week.

The organisation insists the vast majority of customers will not be affected by the planned cuts.

Out of 31 branches earmarked for closure in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, only two were given a reprieve last month.

Simon Anthony, who runs the post office on Cwmcelyn Road, Blaina, said it was the community who would be losing out if the closure plans are rubberstamped.

"It's an anxious time and I face a very unstable future. We will all be glad to know where we stand.

"There is always hope though."

During the last six weeks customers around Gwent have signed petitions, turned out at public meetings and sent personal letters to Post Office bosses pleading with them to rethink the plans.