NINE more post office branches in Fareham and Gosport are to be axed.

After a six-week consultation exercise 11 of the 74 post offices in the region will be lost by the middle of next month.

The move has sparked fears among elderly residents that they will not have access to vital services including pensions and benefit payments.

The decision brings to 14 the number of post office branches in Fareham and Gosport boroughs that have announced plans to close in little more than a year.

The axe will be wielded over the Leith Avenue branch in Portsdown Road, the Gosport Road branch and the HMS Collingwood branch in Newgate Lane, all in Fareham and the Sarisbury Green branch in Bridge Road and Locks Heath branch in Warsash Road.

In Gosport, the branch at Royal Hospital Haslar in Haslar Road, the Camden Town branch in Anns Hill Road, the Gomer branch in Nimrod Drive and the Stoke Road branch will go.

Sarisbury Residents' Association chairman Mike Pengelly said residents would be 'miffed' at the planned closure of their village branch.

He added: "I've never been in that post office and not had to queue.

"How they can say it's not busy enough, I don't know.

"People will have to go up to Park Gate where it's very difficult to park."

Paul Simmonds, head of area for the Post Office, said: "A number of concerns were raised during the consultation period and generally the feedback centered on the effect the closures would have on the elderly, disabled and parents with children along with the inconvenience and difficulty of travelling to other branches."

He added: "Post offices are facing a declining number of customers and higher running costs."

Many branches are struggling to survive and these harsh decisions must be made to improve the sustainability of other offices in the area."