SIMON Cordon, the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for South West Surrey, has criticised plans to close Boundstone Post Office.

He claimed Waverley Borough Council had failed to conduct a preemptive public consultation last year to gauge the value of a number of offices in the area to stave off their demise.

The scheduled closure, which Mr Cordon feared could be one of five in the area, is part of Royal Mail's three-year restructuring to involve axing one third of its 9,000 post offices.

It comes in response to spiralling debts which are now believed to total more than £1 billion.

Describing the Post Office's regulation one-month public consultation on the closure as "a sham", he said post offices should not have to operate on a profit balancing basis, due to their wider social value.

"Waverley Borough Council were not prepared to accept that there would be a detrimental effect of post office closures. We now have to challenge the post office to allow time to assess the community's needs, but four weeks is not enough," he said.

The move is being proposed with the agreement of sub postmaster Paul Granger, who has run the business with his wife, Georgina, for the last 18 years.

He said: "It has been increasingly difficult to continue due to a reduction in the number of customers. The closure is not set in stone, as there is a public consultation on this."

Mr Granger added that a number of similar post offices were struggling, and would be damaged even more by changes to make benefit payment directly into bank accounts.

In a statement the Post Office said the proposed closure would safeguard the future of other urban post offices in the area. There are too many outlets competing for too little business.

A spokesman for the Post Office said: "Even after any changes are made, well over 95 per cent of customers will still live within a mile of a post office branch."

He said action had been taken to ensure the post office in Shortheath Road would be "geared up" to cope with extra customers should the closure go ahead.

Waverley Borough Councillor Pat Frost, who represents Boundstone dismissed Mr Cordon's concerns as "scaremongering".

She said the closure had been on the cards for some time. The business side of the post office had been put on the market 18 months ago as it was struggling.

"It is always sad when a local community facility has to close and as one of the local members I am very supportive of local shops and facilities but sometimes we have to give in to the