The Government minister with responsibility for post offices was yesterday presented with hundreds of objections to the proposed closure of the city centre's Exchange branch.

Postal Affairs Minister and Bradford South MP Gerry Sutcliffe received hundreds of coupons and signatures opposing the closure.

A Telegraph & Argus campaign to stop the busy Bank Street Post Office from closing has been supported by around 700 coupons from readers and hundreds of signatures on petitions.

The closure is one of 17 proposed across the district which have caused dismay among many communities.

Mr Sutcliffe was presented with a huge portfolio featuring all the T&A's campaign coverage, all the coupons and dozens of letters, e-mails and petitions opposing the closure, by T&A editor Perry Austin-Clarke.

The minister pledged to present it to Post Office Ltd and do everything he could to save the branch.

He said: "I don't want to see Bank Street branch close and I have stated that from the start, as well as reflecting my constituents' views that some of the other post offices should be kept open.

"I will take the file of coupons and the petitions to the Post Office and do everything I can to save it. I really hope it can be saved from closure but it is down to the Post Office at the end of the day.

"As a minister I am involved at the highest level and will be representing Bradford's best interests. I want to put a very strong case and I must be in a stronger position as a minister to do that than I would be as an MP."

He added that it was good to see that so many people had voiced their opinion about the proposed closure.

"I think the consultation - which ends on Tuesday - has given people the chance to express their feelings about the possible closures.

"The amount of support the T&A campaign has had shows the strength of feeling. I really hope that Post Office Ltd can come up with a more creative solution that isn't going to cause so much inconvenience and disruption for people."

Statutory consumer group Postwatch was also presented with a copy of the campaign material and signatures.

Committee member Hilary Putman said: "It is good to be able to gauge local public opinion.

"When we assess whether or not to support a closure like this it depends on a lot of factors and local opinion is one of them.

"We will be looking through the file carefully and giving it thorough and proper consideration before we make our response to the proposed closure to the Post Office next week."

Mr Austin-Clarke said: "The Bank Street closure proposal makes no sense whatsoever and we wanted to make sure that both the Government and the Post Office fully understand the strength of feeling in the city against it.

"Bradford people want their main city centre post office to stay and it's crazy to suggest that it can't have a profitable future once the new Broadway shopping centre is up and running."