Your article on threatened post office closures in Oxfordshire, Last hope for post offices (Oxford Mail, March 13), is misleading.

It correctly reports that the county council wants to study what Essex County Council is doing in terms of looking to help threatened branches in that county.

We would also like to examine what space could be found in any council facility to provide a service if this could possibly avoid a closure.

However, I was quite clear in saying that I did not believe this would be likely.

So I am baffled by your introductory paragraph that announces we are "looking at the possibility of taking over the running of 22 under-threat post offices".

I never said or indicated any such thing.

I must make it clear again that while we deplore Government plans to cut services, we do not believe we should be taking on financial responsibility for post offices.

Our council taxpayers would not thank us for increasing council tax to bail out the Government.

I stress that we will do what we can to support threatened communities.

KEITH MITCHELL Leader Oxfordshire County Council