DARCY Lever sub-Post Office will shut next month -- despite opposition from elderly residents and local councillors.

Post Office bosses said the postmaster had asked if he could leave because custom was declining and running costs were increasing. And he will not be replaced.

The sub-post office will be included in the national programme of closures. It will shut on April 30.

Local councillors say they are disappointed because elderly residents will be left without a nearby post office.

Little Lever ward councillor Anthony Connell said: "I am disappointed. A number of residents have contacted me with their concerns."

Post Office managers said they also had received a number of letters from people worried about the closure.

Residents say alternative post offices are not conveniently located.

But Post Office spokesman Eddie Herbert said he felt the closure was the correct course of action.

He said: "A declining number of customers, increased running costs and the prospect of even less business once benefit payments are transferred from passbooks to bank accounts prompted the sub-postmaster to want to leave our organisation.

"Proposals to close post offices are not made without considerable research and discussion -- our aim is to safeguard access to a post office for all communities.

"The harsh reality is that many urban offices are struggling to survive because there are too many branches for the amount of business."

He said he was confident other post offices in the area -- in Castle Street, the Haulgh, and Bury Road, Breightmet -- were suitably located and could cope with the extra business.