Villagers in Wrington staged a protest against proposals to close the village doctors' surgery and move it to Langford.

NHS North Somerset wants to close the Wrington Vale Medical Practices in Wrington and Churchill and build a new state-of-the-art medical centre on land at Pudding Pie Lane in Langford.

If the move goes ahead it will mean patients, many of whom are elderly, will have to travel three miles to see their doctor.

Anyone travelling by bus to the new medical centre would have to get off at the stop near Budgens supermarket and garage – a 15-minute walk from the new practice.

Angry residents have set up the Save Our Surgery (SOS) campaign and staged a protest outside the surgery to highlight their concern about the plan.

A petition, which has already collected 500 signatures, has been circulating in the village and a Facebook site set up to support the campaign.

Residents at the protest said that if the move went ahead it would make it nearly impossible for villagers to access health services.

Mum Charlotte Tyler, 41, said: "If the surgery closed it would be difficult to get my children there. Wrington is a big village, and it is expanding and we need health services within walking distance."

SOS campaign member, Peter Maitland, 68, said: "The new surgery will cost £3 million to build and this is money which would be better invested into expanding services and staff numbers in Wrington and Churchill.

"Financially the main winners are the practice and the company constructing the new surgery and the losers will be the taxpayers, elderly people and families without transport.

"So far, the PCT has not engaged with the community and no views have been sought."

The action group has distributed leaflets to inform locals of the plans and urged people to sign the petition.

Mr Maitland said: "This will be a real barrier to basic healthcare.

"A large number of older residents moved here because of the services they could walk to.

"The whole valley will suffer if local shops and businesses lose trade as a result of the surgery closing."

Health bosses say the merger will ease the patient strain on doctors and enable an expansion in services.

The new two-storey medical centre will have 11 consulting rooms, a creche and an in-house pharmacy.

Wrington Parish Council is also concerned by the proposals and has written to NHS bosses and Woodspring MP Dr Liam Fox highlighting its concerns.

A spokesman for NHS North Somerset said: "The proposed new surgery building which will serve the 9,200 patients currently registered at Wrington Vale Medical Practice's two existing surgeries at Churchill and Wrington is necessary in order to accommodate and provide the breadth and quality of healthcare services NHS North Somerset is committed to providing.

"There has been no change to our policy of protecting existing GP practices and encouraging them to expand.

"A full engagement and consultation process is under way and a consultative board, comprising patients, residents and all other stakeholders is to be established on order that we can continue to ensure that the views of all patients and residents are heard."