THIS year will see the loss of a system of unofficial "caring" that has underpinned dozens of communities up and down the country.

Scores of local post offices will close.

It is already happening in our area, with plans to shut the Hindsford Post Office in Tyldesley Road, Atherton in March.

This will, no doubt, be in spite of the invited views of customers which -- without the necessity for a crystal ball -- are likely to be unanimously pleading to keep it open.

Local pensioners say that the next post office, about half a mile away, is an uphill walk. Catching a bus will eat into their already meagre funds and make their lives more difficult.

Post Office chiefs want the Hindsford Office to close as part of a national restructuring and modernisation programme. They are concerned that there are too many post offices competing for too little business in many towns and cities.

At the Atherton post office, they say, there are declining numbers of customers and increased running costs.

But, like libraries, services on offer are more comprehensive and far-reaching than they look.

Many post offices in the Bolton, Bury and Leigh areas act as a social focal point for local communities. It is where the elderly often bump into each other when they go for their pension each week.

Where they can enjoy a chat -- sometimes the only person they may talk to that day -- and where a friendly face will genuinely inquire "How are you today?"

With the best will in the world, banks cannot necessarily do this. And insist on our senior citizens picking up their pensions from banks and you are in danger of fazing further some elderly people who already prefer to keep their cash around them at home.

All this is also without the possible personal security implications of large numbers of senior citizens queuing outside cash machines or inside banks at the same time each week. Muggers form an orderly line here, please.

Too often, the clinical eye of business looks past human needs and focuses only on the accounts. But that way leads to hardship and social problems in communities.

If there are deemed to be too many local post offices for the business on offer, then surely it is up to Post Office chiefs to relax the rules for possible outlets for these low-key entrepreneurs?

But, whatever you do, please do not close our post offices wholesale.

In many places you will be ripping the heart out of small residential areas, and I cannot believe that this is what a caring Government is all about.