A Norfolk village has vowed to fight to keep its Post Office.

Members of the parish council have underlined their determination to keep the Post Office on Great Melton Road in Hethersett during a meeting on Zoom.

The council has been in touch with the post office authorities after concern over the future of the office, but, to date, has not heard back.

Council Chairman Adrienne Quinlan said: “We are monitoring the situation and doing everything we can to keep the post office in the village.”

Members heard from the current postmaster Kevin Salmon that he will continue well into 2021.

He had previously stated his intention to retire and said: “I don’t think that I will retire until later in the year, rather than earlier.”

Mr Salmon added that he would be loathe to sign a new lease for the existing office in Oak Square.

It is likely that when and if the current office shuts, the post office authorities will be aiming to incorporate a facility into a local business, providing one comes forward.

“Hethersett only has a limited number of shops and those that were considering taking on a post office have changed their minds,” Mr Salmon said.

Councillors agreed that they “must do all they can” to keep a post office in the village referring to it as “an essential service.”

The office has managed to stay open throughout both periods of lockdown.

Meanwhile Hethersett Parish Council is also fighting a spate of graffiti that has sprung up both in the village and along the B1172.

It recently cost over £250 to have graffiti cleaned off a bus shelter on the B1172.

Some of the new spate is on parish owned property but other belongs to Norfolk County Council.

Anybody coming across new instances of graffiti in the village is asked to report it to parish clerk Annette Palmer on 0702 322 729 or via email at hethersett.pc@tiscali.co.uk. Council member Bridget Williamson has agreed to set-up a graffiti register. The latest examples have been reported to Norfolk Police.