THE CAMPAIGN to re-open Woodfield post office in Cam will attempt to gain further support at a public meeting on Monday (7pm).

The meeting at Woodfield Youth Club has been organised by Cam Parish Council to see if there are enough volunteers to run a community post office.

Chairman Cllr Dennis Andrewartha said: "The meeting has been called to see if we have enough people to run the post office if we can get it re-opened. If we don't get the volunteers then it's a non-starter."

The parish council were always against the closure of the post office, in Phillimore Road, and have been looking to re-open it since it shut it's doors for the last time in July.

One of the arguments that the parish council will use against the Post Office's closure at Woodfield is that it was wrong to identify Cam as an urban area.

The closure was part of the Post Office's urban re-invention programme, which handled the closure of sub-post offices in built up areas.

Woodfield was only involved because Cam and Stinchcombe were grouped together with Dursley and classified as an urban area - susceptible to the closure programme.

Cllr Andrewartha believes that should never have been allowed to happen, but thinks that minds can be changed.

He said: "If we can get the Post Office to realise that Cam and Stinchcombe are rural areas then it will be far more likely that the Woodfield branch will re-open.

"It won't open full time, but it will alleviate a problem as it is important to give Woodfield its post office back and stop this corporate vandalism continuing."

The plan, drawn up between the parish council, Stroud District Council and local residents, is to re-open the post office within the Cam Family Butcher, which is expanding its premises into the empty post office shop.

Cllr Andrewartha added: "In our efforts to re-open Woodfield Post Office we have abandoned our politics and just got down to business. We have representatives from all three parties working together to move things forward.

"If we get the right support then I would like to see the post office back in operation by Christmas, although that is quite an optimistic view."

Stroud MP David Drew has taken up the parish council's case with the Post Office and is in regular contact with both parties.

In a letter to the parish council Mr Drew stated: "Though I'm aware that a number of people who have been contacted within the Post Office have appeared somewhat resistant to the idea of re-opening, I remain confident that we can make progress."

His optimism came from a recent communication with Stephen Peters of Postwatch, the watchdog for the Post Office.

Mr Peters said: "Postwatch is keenly aware of the disruption and distress that Post Office closures generate and we are always willing to give support and make representations on behalf of communities wishing to open community post offices."

Mr Peters also explained that the decision to close Woodfield Post Office was taken without considering whether local residents had suitable alternatives.

He said: "The closures resulted from sub-postmasters volunteering to close and accepting the generous compensation packages on offer. This was done on a first come, first served basis without reference to the network in the area."

The Post Office subsequently received complaints about the procedure from several groups including Postwatch.

Since Woodfield Post Office was closed, a bus service has been in operation to take customers from Woodfield to the Co-op post office.

However, the service, which runs each Monday, has been used relatively lightly by residents, prompting a fare reduction from a 70p return to 50p.