PROTESTERS have taken to the town centre to deliver a message - do not move our Post Office.

The group braved the elements on Saturday, 1 December in a bid to get as many people as possible to sign the petition to stop the Post Office being moved from its London Road store.

As previously report in The Gazette, the Post Office has announced proposals to relocate the service into the WHSmith store in The Malls.

However, this decision has been met with much criticism and on Saturday members of the Basingstoke Constituency Labour Party (CLP) and Communication Workers Union (CWU) gathered at the Top of the Town to get as many signatures objecting to the proposal as possible.

Hampshire County Council councillor for the Basingstoke Central division Michael Westbrook said: “This is such a vital part of our community. It is easily accessible for residents and putting it into a franchise with WHSmith is a downward spiral.

“There are a vast range of services available for people here in what is a fair recently refurbished store.”

CWU South East regional secretary Paul Carpenter added: “We have been around all the local shops with staff all signing the petition.

“A lot of the market traders here said that their businesses could have to stop trading in the town without a Post Office facility nearby.”

On the day more than 540 people signed the petition.

The proposal put forward is for the Post Office to be run under a franchise agreement, as part of a new deal with WHSmith to relocate up to 40 Post Offices into the retailer’s stores in 2019.

Basingstoke’s MP Maria Miller has also urged residents to answer a consultation put out by the Post Offic.

Mrs Miller has previously said: “The central location of Basingstoke’s main post office makes it a valuable asset in the town. If this is to move to the WHSmith store in the Malls shopping centre, this could adversely affect the Top of The Town.”

The Post Office said that it is committed to keeping vital services in high streets across the UK, but is "not immune to challenges facing retailers".

Roger Gale, network and sales director for the Post Office said: "We must adapt to changing customer needs by making our services more accessible to customers, for instance through longer opening hours.

“That is why we are proposing to franchise a further 74 directly managed branches to WHSmith; the plan enables us to maintain branches in town and city centres in a way that’s financially sustainable, not just for today’s customers but tomorrow’s too."

Currently 98 per cent of the Post Office network is run in an agency or franchise basis. It’s a model that the organisation says works through delivering the benefits of shared overheads and footfall.

The consultation on the proposal for the Basingstoke store runs until December 12.

For more information or to have your say on the consultation visit postofficeviews.co.uk/national-consultation-team/copy-of-nt-offsite-template-3.