A POST office could close under newly revealed merger plans.

The Post Office is proposing to merge Western Road Crown Post Office in Hove with its sister branch in Melville Road.

Post Office bosses claim the number of customers using the Western Road Crown Office, on the corner with Brunswick Street, has declined in recent years and the branch is no longer “commercially sustainable”.

They have reassured residents that a review of services in the area has revealed “sufficient capacity” in the surrounding Post Office network for customers to continue to access Post Office services.

There are four branches within a mile of Western Road Crown Office and residents will be able to use Brighton Post Office and Hove Post Office in addition to Melville Road Crown Office.

The site in Melville Road, more than half a mile from the at-risk post office, has four counter positions, the same range of services and has already been through the Post Office modernisation programme.

A 12-week consultation on the proposed move began this week and will close on September 16.

Subject to the consultation outcome, it is proposed that the two Post Office branches will merge in January.

Comments and questions can be submitted through an online questionnaire at postofficeviews.co.uk, by FREEPOST Your Comments to Post Office Ltd, via email to comments@postoffice.co.uk, via the Customer Helpline on 08457 22 33 44 or Textphone 08457 22 33 55.

In all communications, customers are asked to quote branch code 01090799.