THREATENED post office branches in Cumbria will not be saved by a potential county council buy out.

Essex County Council announced last week that it was exploring the possibility of buying out 15 branches that had been earmarked for closure as part of the Post Office Ltd's cost-cutting cull of 2,500 branches nationwide.

However, Cumbria County Council has announced that it will not be following the route taken by the South East authority and instead says that it will continue to work with communities to help maintain the viability of rural post offices.

A spokesman from Cumbria County Council said: "We are already working with communities in Cumbria to retain rural services, such as post offices. Our approach has been to provide support to make services sustainable because that is the key to their long-term future.

"We are trying to make sure that communities in rural areas retain as many services as possible. We have been talking to the Post Office about the future of services in the county.

"It is true that we have not always had the level of understanding and co-operation that we would have liked, but we will continue working with them and we hope for a more productive relationship in the future."