Elwick Road post office, Raby Estate post office, in Chatham Road and Hart post office in Hart village, are all earmarked for closure.

Post Office representatives, Matt Silcock and Liz Morgan, answered questions on a range of issues at the meeting of Hartlepool Borough Council's scrutiny co-ordinating committee, in the council chamber of the Civic Centre, in Victoria Road.

The Post Office is under pressure from the Government to close 2,500 offices.

Mr Silcock said: "There is a need for change because customer numbers are falling, customer behaviour is changing and we are operating in a more competitive market.

"We have been told we need to close 2,500 offices and we will be going ahead with the closure programme."
  
The proposed closures in Hartlepool come under the Area Plan for Cleveland, South Durham and Richmond.

Mr Silcock added that during the pre-consultation stage 25 per cent of the proposed closures in the area plan had changed.

To support the re-structure of the network the government has proposed £1.7billion worth of investment.

Hartlepool MP Iain Wright and Mayor of Hartlepool Stuart Drummond attended the meeting which looked at the proposals to close three post offices.

Mayor Drummond argued the majority of government cash would be used to pay off postmasters.

He said: "As I understand it, the money coming from government is going to compensate the post masters that are losing their jobs and not supplementing the service."

Mayor Drummond added that he had concerns that if post offices in other parts of the area plan were saved then Hartlepool could be hit with further closures to make up the numbers.

Post Office bosses were criticised at the meeting for the speed of the consultation process and questioned over forward thinking with regard to diversifying the service.

Iain Wright MP said: "I understand the business model and how it needs to move with the times.

"Why aren't you looking more imaginatively to broaden the level of post office service to make them more viable?"

Mr Wright suggested the Post Office work closely with the local authority to ensure more council services, such as paying for car parking permits, are available at their branches.

He added that closures should always be a final option and that Post Offices bosses should consider the high levels of deprivation and inequality in the Chatham Road and Elwick Road areas of town.

The council will be producing a detailed document outlining the case for all of the town's Post Offices as part of the public consultation.