COLEFORD could lose its post office if a new Tesco store is built on the Marshes.

As public consultation began this week, mayor Sue Merrikin raised fears of the town losing the vital facility, situated inside Tesco Express, if the smaller shop closes to make way for a 10,000sq ft store.

The mayor insisted: "That post office has to stay in the town."

Tesco-appointed consultant Dan Bramwell said the post office would have to make its own commercial decision on its future.

"We can't make that decision," he said.

Plans unveiled by local developer Clive Bath of Dean Properties were given a mixed reception at a special town council meeting on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, at another presentation, traders from the Coleford Business Association, including greengrocer Adam Scott and florists, raised concerns about unfair competition.

But Mr Bath said a larger Tesco food store – equal in size to the current Co-op (which has just been given permission to extend its size by a third) – would boost town trade as a whole by 30 per cent. He said he and his wife had done a survey and discovered prices at Lydney Tesco for same branded products were 20 per cent less than at the Co-op. The new Coleford Tesco would sell food at the same prices as Lydney.

"That's why people aren't shopping in Coleford but going to Lydney, Monmouth or Ross instead," he said. "My wife won't shop in Coleford."