In particular, they object to the closure of Salisbury Square Post Office at Harryville. There has been a Post Office at Salisbury Square for 103 years and a petition to keep it open has been signed by 802 people.

The Council's response, which is on its way to the Network Consultation Team, notes that Harryville is a 'town within a town'.

It adds: "It is the hub of the community and, as such, provides an important social element to those people accessing Post Office services, particularly older people and those with mobility problems. Closure could result in isolation for many people as, without this particular Post Office, they may not be able to service themselves.

"It is one of the busiest Post Offices in the town, pro rata, and the importance of cusotmer footfall must be fully recognised."

The closure of Salisbury Square Post Office would mean that people would have to travel to alternative branches, the nearest being Ballee and Wellington Street.

At this point in the response, Cllr Beth Adger had asked for any references to Ballee to be omitted because, while fighting for Salisbury to stay open, she did not want to bring any other branch into the equation. She was backed in her view by Cllr Tommy Nicholl, however, the rest of the councillors did not agree and refused to have the wording changed.

The response went on to outline that five disabled parking spaces were available at Salisbury Square, which were "superior to the poorer parking facilities available on the forecourt at Ballee".It added: "Spaces for disabled parking iare limited at the busy Ballee petrol station; Wellington Street branch is in the middle of town and traffic is very congested so access to the facility would not be as easy while car parks are extremely busy and some distance away.

"Walking to the Ballee branch is over a mile return journey and would involve crossing two extremely busy roads; walking distance to the Wellington Street branch is over two miles with a steep incline up Bridge Street and Church Street; while there is no direct bus route to the alternative branches."

The Council also submitted a strong case in support of other threatened Post Offices including Crosskeys and Rathkenny, while objections were also lodged against plans to transform Carnalbanagh and Moorfields to an outreach/home service.