MP fears for service if sorting of letters moved away from city

PLANS by Royal Mail to move its York sorting office to Leeds will result in a second-class service for residents and businesses, a Labour MP claimed yesterday.

York Central’s Hugh Bayley has written to Royal Mail to express his concerns over the current Mail Centre Review, looking at the way mail is sorted and delivered.

One of the proposals being considered is to transfer mail sorting from York to Leeds, downgrading the Leeman Road office, which would operate as a delivery centre in a similar way to the one in which Birch Park office does.

Yesterday the idea came under fire from Mr Bayley, who is concerned about the impact on postal workers, the service, customers and the environment and wants a public consultation on the proposals.

Royal Mail says it is not required to consult customers on operational matters, although it will keep the public fully informed.

Mr Bayley met Royal Mail bosses at the end of 2008 following its decision to transfer the sorting of all second class mail from York to Leeds and he was told that the public would be consulted if there were plans to move the sorting of first class mail from York.

He said: “The public, and businesses, in York will get a poorer service if our mail is sorted in Leeds. The public must be consulted and Royal Mail should listen to what we say.

“York residents are proud of our city and, like visitors to York, we do not want to see the York postmark disappear into history. I send out hundreds of letters every month and the majority are for my constituents, people who live in York.

“It doesn’t make sense environmentally or economically for these letters will be collected from a pillar box in the centre of York, transported along the A64 to Leeds, only to be returned to York, to be delivered.”

In his letter to the Royal Mail’s head of external elations in the north, Christine Nolan, he says he is “very disappointed to hear that Royal Mail were considering extending the Leeds Mail Centre and transferring the sorting of York’s mail”.

His letter continued: “I am not convinced that Royal Mail has shown there is a business case for transferring work from York to Leeds.

“York is one of the most-visited tourist destinations in the UK. The York postmark is unique and valued by the tourist industry, local businesses, visitors to York and York residents.

“None of these groups would want to see the York stamp disappear.”

He understands the intention is to reduce staffing in the North East by around 800 without resorting to compulsory redundancies and wants to know how many of the job cuts will be in York.

A Royal Mail spokesman said the review was part of the national agreement bosses had reached with union leaders.

He added: “We are reviewing our processing and some delivery operations in Yorkshire and the North East of England to make sure we have the right sites to accommodate the world class technology and equipment being rolled out as part of our 2bn modernisation programme and to adapt to a market in which 13 million fewer letters are sent every day compared to five years ago and in which volumes continue to fall.

“We shared an initial proposal with our people in June on how we believe we can reshape our mail centre network so that we are best placed to meet the challenges ahead.

“Internal consultation with the unions is continuing and, while we are not obliged to consult publicly on operational changes essential to secure the universal postal service, we will continue to keep our stakeholders updated as our plans develop.”

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