A CAMPAIGN to save post offices in the area has been launched by two Conservative councillors and South West Surrey MP Jeremy Hunt. Witley and Hambledon councillors Adam Taylor-Smith and Elizabeth Cable met Mr Hunt last Friday to kick off the campaign – which will take the form of a petition. They put their names to it at Hambledon Post Office before pledging support for the Conservative's Post Office Action Plan – an initiative which aims to support post offices by encouraging local councils to offer services there. It is part of a plan to make post offices one- stop shops for payment of bills, and the plan will also encourage shops to sell a wider variety of goods. The campaign has been launched because 4,000 post offices have been closed since 1997, with a further 2,500 threatened to close. Given that government guidelines suggest people in rural areas should live within three miles of a post office, many in Waverley could face the chop. After signing the petition, Mr Taylor-Smith said: "I am really concerned about the threat to what many regard as essential services in our area, including the threatened closure of post offices and hospital services. "I urge residents to join this campaign as part of the fight to keep our post offices open in places such as Hambledon, Milford, Wormley and Chiddingfold. "Hambledon shop is fantastic and plays a vital part in the community that it serves, and the income from the post office provides an important part of the shop's revenue." Mrs Cable added: "It is essential to many rural communities that they do not lose their post offices. "In the case of Hambledon, when the shop and post office were closed in 1990 they were so badly missed that they reopened in 1992 as a community venture, and have thrived ever since. "So we must not let this government close our rural post offices now." Mr Hunt added: "Local post offices are a vital part of every community, and local people would suffer enormously if any in Waverley are forced to close. "I would urge all Waverley residents to put pen to paper and join Adam and Elizabeth in their campaign to save village post offices like the one in Hambledon."
