BURY is to finally get a town centre Post Office - but customers will have to wait until Christmas to use it.

Planning chiefs reluctantly rubber stamped an application by the Royal Mail to temporarily site a portable cabin in Kay Gardens at their meeting on Tuesday.

But they were told the facilities may not be fully operational until mid-December.

Road closures have to be publicised and the full details of the facility need to be agreed within the next 28 days.

The Royal Mail told the committee it would then need between six to eight weeks to prepare the temporary building for business.

Bury town centre has been without a main post office branch since the franchise holder, Forbuoys in The Haymarket, closed in June.

Thousands of customers have since been forced to travel to other branches across the borough.

The Royal Mail also came under fire from the leader of Bury Council, Councillor Wayne Campbell, who accused them of a "lack of effort" in their attempts to find acceptable premises in the town centre.

Now, the Royal Mail has been warned by the planning committee that it has just six months from the opening of the Kay Gardens post office facility to find a permanent home.

Committee member Councillor Wilf Davison said: "I feel that if there is any attempt by the Royal Mail to extend the six-month time limit for the cabin in Kay Gardens then I will oppose it.

"If this had been any organisation asking for approval other than the Post Office, we would have thrown it out. Kay Gardens is in a conservation area.

"This cabin will be a blot on the landscape. It is really disgusting for visitors to see this sort of thing stuck in a very attractive part of the town centre. Steps should have been taken a long time ago to resolve this matter. I am very reluctant to approve this but I feel the people of Bury deserve a post office presence."

Fellow councillor Mike Connolly echoed the leader of the council's views on the Royal Mail, accusing them of being "extremely slow" in their search for a permanent town centre home.

"This application is long overdue," said Coun Connolly. "My view is that they have been extremely slow to respond to council concerns to provide a permanent site in the town centre.

"I do not accept that they have made extensive efforts at all. The fact that Bury town centre has been left without a post office for so long is appalling. The fact that we are having to delegate the final decision for the cabin to our officers, because this application lacks a lot of detail the council requires, does not fill me with confidence."

Chairman of the committee, Councillor Tony Cummings added: "It would seem the post office in Kay Gardens would be up and running two weeks before Christmas, which I am sure they will agree is not an ideal time."