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More than 370 people have signed a petition urging Surrey County Council to approve the opening of an independent pharmacy on the site of a Boots store which closed at the start of last year.

The petition, started by Karen Randolph, health and community convenor from Thames Ditton and Weston Green Residents’ Association, attempts to crank up the pressure on the Council and the NHS to “recognise the need for a pharmacy in Thames Ditton village.”

The petition, which is open until March 19, was launched after a draft pharmaceutical needs assessment (PNA) by the council’s health and wellbeing board concluded all rural and urban areas of Surrey “are able to access a pharmacy within 20 minutes by car.”

“No pharmaceutical gaps in rural areas of Surrey were identified,” the PNA said, adding the board identified “a number of areas classified as urban which cannot access a pharmacy in 20 minutes on foot”.

However, the PNA said “the majority” of areas that had “a walking distance greater than 20 minutes to a pharmacy” were “non-residential or sparsely populated”.

The draft PNA was put out for a 60-day public consultation between November 25, 2024 and January 24, 2025.

Randolph said the PNA meant it was “very unlikely that Thames Ditton would get approval for a replacement pharmacy in the village” but still urged people to sign the petition.