News of the closure has sparked fears that people in rural areas around Bordon, Alton and Liphook could be made to wait longer for ambulances to arrive in the event of an emergency.
The trust board agreed last week to close 19 stations across Hampshire and replace them with three "superstations" in the centre of high demand areas at Southampton, Basingstoke and Portsmouth.
And in a bid to modernise facilities, cut costs and improve patient care, managers are planning a number of strategic points where vehicles will wait on stand-by.
Trust managers believe current facilities are beginning to show signs of deterioration and argue large investment would be needed to bring current stations up to standard. Instead, they want to raise around £10 million from the sale of 16 stations – as the other three are leased – to help fund the new depots. But union leaders fear some rural areas may be affected by the new "hub and spoke" system which is due to be installed by 2008. Jim Barnett, chairman of the joint shop stewards' committee for the trust, is concerned closures will result in a continuation of the "postcode lottery" and pointed to the situation in other counties, where he argues the adopted system has not succeeded.
He said: "Members find it difficult to accept how the service will benefit from the hub and spoke approach. What happens now is that ambulances in rural areas get pulled into the cities in order to meet the eight-minute emergency response time targets."
Chris Jenner, a firefighter who often works on the front line with Hampshire ambulance crews, is worried response times could suffer with the new approach.
He said: "I am aware that a lot of good work has gone into modernising the fleet in Hampshire, but I think this is a retrograde step and response times could get worse because of it."
Two years ago, Hampshire Ambulance Trust was rated as one of the worst performers in the country by an independent regulator. It was awarded the worst possible grading in July 2003, primarily because it failed to meet all response time targets, and in 2002 was awarded just one star.
While target figures have since improved, Phil Trevorrow, finance director for Hampshire Ambulance, has sought to reassure Bordon and Alton residents that future changes will help "rationalise the service".
He said: "It is important that people see that this is not a strategy to provide more cover in urban areas and less in rural ones.
"I know people worry about change, but the strategy is clear that we run our service from the ambulances, not the stations. The service has been getting busier and busier over the years and some of the stations in Hampshire have been there for 40 to 50 years. We now have the technology which predicts where ambulances should be standing by. It will rationalise the service."
Newly-elected trust chairman and former Alton county councillor Tony Barron believes this is a very exciting time for Hampshire Ambulance service. Brought in to implement a programme of recovery, Mr Barron believes the 'hub and spoke' proposal will enhance the current system of "dynamic deployment", providing a more efficient service which will improve clinical performance.
The fact that it should be easier to manage ambulance personnel from central depots while introducing improved work patterns, and that maintenance staff will be provided to stock, wash and clean the vehicles - work currently done by paramedics should mean that crews have more time to do the job they are paid to do.
"We will be better placed to get vehicles to the right place at the right time," said Mr Barron, who has already overseen changes to the service with the introduction of more rapid response paramedic units whose aim is, whenever possible, to treat patients at home rather than taking them to hospital.
Mr Barron is adamant. "Over the last three or four years we have been struggling but Hampshire Ambulance Trust used to be number one in the country and we want to be number one again."
To this end he has expressed a willingness to address any public meetings on the future closure of ambulance stations and to explain the trust's vision for the future.
Ambulance staff are due to be briefed on the new scheme in July and a four-week "public engagement programme" is being planned for August.