The future of a Hampshire village stores and post office is again at risk after the owner announced his intention to sell.

In April 2015 Lower Upham village stores was listed as a community asset by the parish council after a campaign by residents to save their only shop and post office.

But now it has emerged that Winchester City Council has officially received notice of the landowner’s intention to sell Lower Upham Stores in Winchester Road.

As a registered community asset and in line with the Localism Act 2011, the following community interest groups can submit an expression of interest if a community asset is to be sold. These are the parish council, a charity, a community interest company, a company limited by guarantee, or an industrial and provident society.

An expression of interest means that any group wishing to keep the shop and post office going has six months to prepare a competitive bid for the stores.

There was a previous attempt to sell the property in September 2015 and there is currently a ‘protected period’ of 18 months that expires this year on March 22. Any sale of this property on or before this date would be in accordance with the Act.

A campaign group called Upham Shop Action Group was formed when the initial threat to the stores and post office emerged in 2015, when the shop closed. The group conducted a survey and the overwhelming preference was for a shop on the main road. At the time, Upham Village Hall looked at the possibility of running a shop on their site but it decided against the idea.

In 2015 the owner of the store Gary Dhatt contacted the Parish Council saying that he was prepared to rent the shop for £650 per calendar month and the house for £875 per calendar month, or to sell for £485,000.

Last year, it appeared that the post office had been saved when the service began operating from the Alma Inn however that service has since ended and the village does not currently have a post office.

David Ashe of the parish council said: “We believe that it is unlikely that a community interest group will come forward. We had a review of the situation to look at the possibility of a community shop run by volunteers but we believe the right future for Lower Upham is for a commercially run shop. “ He added: “We looked at village shops around Hampshire and there is a successful model that be copied and that is Twyford Stores. That has more difficult access issues but is extremely successful. The previous owner of the Upham shop ran it successfully. It just needs to be more responsive to local needs. There will also be 20 homes soon to be built round the corner from the shop, so there is good scope for a successful business.”

“We would be very sad if it was to be sold for housing. We want a commercial buyer to come forward. It may be that the owner should be asking for a more reasonable price for the property.”

Winchester City Council must receive a written expression of interest by March 23 by a community interest group however legally the owner can sell the property up until March 22.