MPs will tonight vote on a controversial £210 million package which could mean the closure of up to 26 post offices across North Yorkshire.

Consignia is seeking Parliamentary approval for its plans to axe up to a

third of Britain's urban post outlets - about 3,000 across the country.

Liberal Democrats say that nine post offices are under threat in York and a further 17 in North Yorkshire Parliamentary constituencies.

The Government wants to grant £210 million to Consignia, with £180 million for compensation for sub-post masters leaving the business. The remaining £30 million will help to revamp remaining urban outlets.

Opposition MPs fear it could rip the heart out of vulnerable communities.

But Consignia's executive director, Alan Barrie, told the Evening Press there was no alternative to closing the outlets.

He said that more than 3,400 sub-post masters had signalled their desire to quit because they recognised that urban post offices were too close together to survive.

Even after the three-year closure programme 95 per cent of people in urban areas would still live within one mile of a post office.

Mr Barrie said: "Anyone who votes against this will be voting for the status quo, which will mean a guaranteed spiral of decline instead of carefully managed change.

"Many of the sub-postmasters wanting to leave recognise they are struggling because they are not in viable locations.

"Even after these changes, there will still be far more post offices than every bank and building society in the country put together."

Ghulam Rabbani, sub-postmaster at Haxby Road Post Office, said he was determined to stay open, but agreed the industry had to be streamlined.

He said: "We want to stay open, we have put a lot of investment into the business, so we did not opt for redundancy.

"But if a business is failing then obviously the business needs to be streamlined - that's the only way.

"If there are fewer Post Offices then there will be more business for the people left behind."

Glynn Drummond, sub-postmaster at Bishopthorpe Post Office, said: "You can't have a system in place for 150 years and not have it revamped, so there was a certain inevitability about this.

"The more worrying factor is the movement of pensions straight into banks. All Post Offices are under threat from that.

"These are businesses, and if the postmaster can't make a living then you are not going to keep them open."

Ministers were expected to sweeten the pill by announcing a £450 million cash injection over three years to prevent the closure of rural post offices.

Updated: 10:52 Tuesday, October 15, 2002