Fraserburgh Community Council have been told by PostWatch, the post office watchdog that it was too late to file an appeal, so unanimously approved the action at their meeting on Tuesday evening.

Community Council member Mary Melville said: "If we don't take this action, the quality of service may deteriorate at the other branches. You're going to stand longer in a queue because the simple fact is, there's one less facility available. The whole of Fraserburgh should be concerned about this. I don't think Fraserburgh realises what is going to happen."

The sub branch is set to close on September 11.
In other business, the community council heard from Aberdeenshire Towns Partnership coordinator Bill Clark, who said building work should begin on September 1 at Marconi Road.

The work should take 12 - 18 months, he said. The council intends to build affordable homes to extend its council house portfolio.

Mr Clark said work on Denmark Street had been delayed by funding issues but expected work to begin on October or November. He added Mrs Reid's house is set to be demolished in two weeks, but the cats in the area have been found "wonderful new homes."

However, the community council were concerned about the time that has elapsed - five years since the plan was first mooted.

Meanwhile, Community Constable Alan Lowe reported that a successful programme to deal with anti-social youth in Peterhead will not be brought to the Broch for health and safety reasons. Grampian Police had successfully piloted the 'Mosquito' in Peterhead - a device which sends out high-frequency sounds that only under-21s can hear.

Constable Lowe said Fraserburgh Police had a "fairly busy two months" and that the office was over-stretched during the holiday period. He said there was a large increase in break-ins to rural properties for diesel, copper and heating oil.

With the introduction of CCTV cameras two weeks ago, Constable Lowe added two people had been detected by the cameras already and he hailed their return as a success. "We're happy it's back," he said.

During his report he mentioned underage drinking and vandalism incidents appear to be down on last year.

However, local councillor Ian Tait claimed police were not enforcing the drinking by-law as rigorously as they should.

He said: "There's no doubt in my mind, this particular by-law has failed. There's no point in having a by-law if it isn't enforced. People tell me they don't report anything to police because there's often no action taken.

Councillor Tait added that he would "like to see police put in a greater effort to enforce this by-law."