COUNCILS SAVE P.O.s; EXCLUSIVE pounds 1.5m from tax reprieves 15 Hundreds more may reopen.

Byline: BY JAMES LYONS 

HUNDREDS of axed post offices may be reopened after a council's pioneering pounds 1.5million rescue plan.

Town Hall chiefs are using the cash from council tax to run 15 of Essex's 31 closed branches.

The axed Station Way branch in Epping Forest opened its doors again last week and will be used as a model for other rescues.

Around 100 other councils have now approached Post Office Ltd to discuss following the Essex example. Half have signed "nondisclosure" agreements, allowing them to look at the books of threatened or closed branches. A dozen are in advanced talks about saving them.

They include branches in Lewisham and Haringey in London, Darlington and Leicester.

Elaborate measures have been taken to ensure that the deal does not break EU rules on Government subsidies. Under the agreement, the traditional Post Office logo is blacked out and official signs are banned in the branch.

The idea came about after Local Government Minister John Healey wrote to council chiefs suggesting they offer a lifeline.

An industry insider said yesterday: "This could mean Post Office services are kept in hundreds of communities."

A Post Office spokesman said: "We will consider any viable proposal put to us by a local authority."

Around 2,500 post offices are being axed to cut the 14,300- branch network to stem losses.

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BAN Workers must black out official sign