A crisis meeting has been called in response to a shock plan to shut almost half of the post offices in Brighton and Hove.

Nineteen branches are threatened with closure under sweeping plans to "restructure" Post Office Ltd's urban network, as revealed in The Argus yesterday.

Dr David Bland, regional head of watchdog Postwatch, met with Brighton MPs David Lepper and Des Turner today.

The three agreed to organise a public meeting, giving customers the chance to voice their opinions on the proposals. It will be chaired by a representative from Postwatch, probably in the second week of November.

Five of the shops listed have been closed on a temporary basis already, while a further five, not on the list, have closed in the past six months.

Dr Turner said two of the closures would be "disastrous".

He said: "This was the first time I had heard the Coombe Road branch was on the list.

"If both this and Lewes Road North were to go it would be a very bad thing because a huge area of the city will not have a post office within a reasonable distance.

"It needs to be closely monitored."

Mr Lepper added: "I welcome the approach Postwatch is taking. Postwatch will walk all the routes between branches to be closed independently and some of the walkers will be older people.

"It will give some idea of how long it takes and some of the difficulties presented."