BUILDING work on the Tilford Garage and shop site will be starting soon, including an extension to the village shop despite the fact that its post office will close on May 13. Tilford Parish Council last week registered its great disappointment that Post Office Ltd was axing the facility despite the great groundswell of public opposition. And parish council chairman Lance Trevellyan, who also owns the shop premises and is carrying out the redevelopment, indicated he still hopes that the increase in shop space and, hopefully, customers, may win the day. "It is not over as far as I am concerned. Although they are clearly not going to be persuaded to change their minds now, I for one will try and reopen the issue when the enlarged shop is completed." Of the closure decision, he said: "It will not impact upon the plans to redevelop the shop. It will not affect the hours that the shop will stay open and it is vey much 'business as usual' for the Tilford shop, albeit sadly without the post office facilities." Mr Trevellyan said there are plans afoot to provide some basic services to help the elderly and less mobile - cashing cheques, selling stamps and taking parcels to Rushmoor post office - so that the impact is mitigated. Surrey county councillor David Harmer was asked if there was any hope of the county council rescuing doomed post offices and running them, as was happening in Essex. "Essex had a lot of places under threat and are not proposing to do this for all the post offices that are closing," Mr Harmer said. "Essex have put £1.5m into it, but we don't have any money to do it. "We have asked to see the Essex scheme and are are reviewing the possibilities, but I would not want to raise expectations."
