Town unites in bid to save delivery office
17th January 2012
Buckinghamshire CWU rep Andy Ball has
said that he is "more optimistic than before" that Royal
Mail will think again over plans to close Princes Risborough
Delivery Office, after a well-attended public meeting in the town
last month gave the proposals a big thumbs down.
The closure was announced last April, along with the intention to merge the office with Aylesbury Vale some six miles away - a move which would see the relocation of Princes Risborough's 24-strong team and squeeze them in with Aylesbury's existing 80 postwomen and postmen.
"The place just isn't big enough to accomodate everyone," explains Andy "car parking would become quite chaotic and we understand that the building itself would need somewhere in the region of £70,000 spent on it to bring it up to standard."
Local councillors have serious concerns at the changes too and they, along with the town's MP - high-profile House of Commons Speaker John Bercow - left regional Royal Mail director Gary Burgess in no doubt as to the strength of feeling in the community when townspeople assembled to discuss the issue.
"Well over 200 local residents, the entire delivery office
staff and CWU reps from our branch turned out and Royal Mail's
case for the closure was, to put it bluntly, highly
unconvincing," reports Andy, who serves as both the local
delivery office rep and the area delivery rep for the South Central
Number 1 Branch.
Following the debate, the company has invited Andy, Mr Bercow and senior local councillors to a meeting in London with top-level Royal Mail leaders later this month to look at the plan in terms of costings, social impact and the effects on service delivery. Andy is "optimistic that minds could start to change."
Given that the existing delivery office premises have now been sold, a move of some kind is inevitable, but Andy insists that a new site within Princes Risborough would be a far preferable option.
"A site has been identified on a business park on the edge of the town - a new building which, many feel, could be converted into a delivery office at a similar or perhaps even a lower cost than that envisaged under the current plans," he pointed out.
"I'd just like to thank everyone who's backed our campaign and let's hope we can achieve a satisfactory solution."
