A VITAL outreach postal service for an Isle of Wight village has been saved from closure thanks to an agreement reached between a charity, a parish council and the Royal Mail.

Island Community Ventures, owned by charity, Community Action Isle of Wight, were reluctantly forced to shut Totland Post Office, after Royal Mail made the decision to stop its parcel and post collection service on April 1. 

However, after a 375-strong petition calling for the postal service to remain in place was submitted, Community Action and Totland Parish Council managed to come to an agreement with Royal Mail to continue the pick ups from Totland Post Office.   

A well used service, supported by the parish council, Community Action delivered the outreach service for a number of years, following the retirement of the previous sub-postmaster.

The additional costs incurred will be shared between Island Community Ventures and Totland Parish Council, which has agreed to continue and increase its support for a service they describe as 'key' for the area.

The withdrawal of the service, with ‘significantly increased’ running costs for the outreach service, which had already required subsidies from Totland Parish Council and Community Action Isle of Wight, would have made the service financially unviable.

Welcoming the news, Island MP Bob Seely said: “This is great news for Totland and other West Wight residents.

"A lot of work has been going on in the background to get to this point.

"I would like to thank Totland Parish Council and Mike Bulpitt at Community Action Isle of Wight for their commitment to keeping the service going.”

Collections will be made between 12pm and 12.30pm, Monday to Friday. Any post and parcels needing to be sent, would need to be at the Totland branch before 12pm on any given collection day.

Island Community Ventures will continue to run Godshill Post Office and weekly outreach services in Wootton and Brading, with backing from local parish councils.