POST office counters could be opened in libraries or council rent offices if Royal Mail bosses insist on closing vital branches in the Capital.
A list of Edinburgh post offices earmarked for closure is due to be published next month as part of a programme to shut 2500 branches across the UK.
Liberal Democrat councillor Conor Snowden, who is to chair a cross-party working group on the clos
ures, said there were bound to be areas of the city which lose out as a result.
He wants the council to consider offering post office services from its own premises, such as rented offices and libraries.
Today the Post Office said it would be open to discussions.
The latest call comes after council officials warned of problems in pursuing an earlier idea of the council buying threatened post offices, as some councils in England hope to do.
Councillor Snowden said: "The idea of the council just running a post office branch is not realistic, but there is no reason why we should not look at other options and that could be getting a branch into some of our offices."
Earlier this year, the city council "condemned" the plan to close post offices and has vowed to minimise the impact in the Capital.
The offices proposed for closure must meet certain criteria, including a requirement that 90 per cent of the population – 99 per cent in deprived areas – must be within a mile of a post office.
But Cllr Snowden said: "We are having to do this because they are going to be shutting 16-20 post offices in Edinburgh and some areas of the city will be badly hit by the closures.
"If you look at a map you might think some areas are over-subscribed with post offices, but often these are areas where there is low car ownership or a high proportion of elderly people."
Edinburgh West Lib Dem MP John Barrett raised the issue of Edinburgh's closures at Prime Minister's Questions last week, but Harriet Harman, deputising for Gordon Brown, told him the Government was investing billions of pounds in the network.
Mr Barrett said today: "When the Gyle post office closed in the last wave of closures it was the busiest and most profitable post office in my constituency. If it can go, nothing is safe."
The closure list for Edinburgh, the Lothians and the south of Scotland will be published for consultation on August 19.
A Post Office spokeswoman said there was no target for the number of closures in each area and it depended on what was there to start with.
She said: "Once the six-week public consultation has commenced, Post Office Ltd is happy to speak to any local council which expresses an interest in providing local funding for Post Office branches.
"Councils need to be committed to taking on the full responsibility for the running of each branch, premises and someone to run the branch, as well as all associated costs involved."
The full article contains 510 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
