INLAND Revenue staff in Farnham have this week announced that they will be doing all they can to prevent the closure of their offices in the Woolmead after 60 years of service to the local community. The offices, which have had a presence in Farnham since the 1940s, have occupied their current premises at Woolmead House since 1966 but HMRC has now unveiled plans to close. As part of a regional review, HMRC has sounded the death knell for the Farnham office by proposing that the full staff are relocated to either Woking or Portsmouth, a fate that staff see as "inevitable". The review is currently in a consultation period until May 16, giving just two weeks for those opposing the plans to lodge their objections. By closing the office, the HMRC is set to save £300,000 per year, but the closure would result in job losses in the area along with a loss to Farnham businesses. James Rolles, branch secretary of the PCS union at the Farnham office, said: "It is looking very likely that we will close because the revenue have to make more than £100 million worth of efficiency savings over the next four years. "This means that many outlying offices will be closed and staff moved into larger offices. There will be a general loss of services and people will lose expertise in taxation for this area. It will be difficult for people to come in and talk face to face with their local tax collectors. There won't be that expertise on site any more.|" He went on to say that because of the pressure on staff to relocate - a "very unpopular" option - between 10 and 20 people have taken voluntary redundancy and there could be more to come. "The bad thing here for us is that there will be 80 members of staff left and we're looking at them either taking redundancy or relocating and we're not even sure how many people will be able to relocate." Although the consultation period for the proposals runs out in two weeks, Mr Rolles said that they won't know their fate until "some time in the summer", further adding to staff worries over the uncertainty of their futures. "It's all very vague and it depends on the summer parliamentary recess and a few other factors but it looks very likely that we will close. It's just going to be another vital service taken out of Farnham." Local MP Jeremy Hunt has joined HMRC staff in their battle against the closure and spoke of the need to keep this service in Farnham. "My main concern is for the people who currently work at the Farnham office who would have to travel to Woking or Portsmouth to work instead," he said. "I was also surprised to find that if I want to visit the office to meet with staff worried about the closure, I have to arrange the meeting through HM Treasury. "The closure of HMRC's Farnham office will be a real blow for the local community."