WE were astonished to see that a new cashpoint had been installed where the main post box at the Market Street Post Office used to be.

The Market Street premises is not a Crown Post Office, but it is very important to the life of Crediton and many High Street businesses and private individuals put their mail into the post box outside the Post Office opening hours.

On investigation I find that the planning permission to do this was applied for on December 24, 2015.

Crediton Town Council said in giving its approval to the application, that it would have no objection to the cash point going in “provided there is no interruption to the old post box service.”

Mr Keith Mortimer registered an objection to the proposed cash point saying: “There is only one other pillar box in the town, on the corner of High Street/Searle Street, with a much smaller capacity than the existing Post Office box,” and: “There are already three ATM’s conveniently located for the High Street shops.”

In its usual way Mid Devon District Council brushed the above qualification and objection aside, granting full permission for the cash point to be put in place on February 18, saying that that “the loss of the existing post box is not considered unacceptable due to the close proximity of nearby post box facilities.”

So we have the ridiculous situation of having an important Post Office without a 24-hour post box. Presumably the new cash point was applied for through the auspices of the new owner of the Post Office and presumably the Royal Mail was complicit in the matter.

The continuity of postal services is surely a vital part of the business of anyone who takes on the main Post Office of a small market town like Crediton.

I assume that it was in the proprietor’s gift to sub-let the site of the new cash point to Notemachine UK Ltd, but in doing this an important part of the reason for the Post Office to be there at all, namely the provision of a 24 hour postal service, has been taken away.

We have had an enormous reduction in postal collections in the past few years coupled with a significant deterioration in the postal delivery services; the disappearance of the Post Office post box just about puts the tin lid on it!

Keith Barker

Penton Close

Crediton