Anger over sale of Royal Mail depot

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ROYAL Mail delivered its latest blow to Whitstable this week by slapping a huge For Sale sign outside its Cromwell Road sorting office.

Despite protest marches and petitions, the company is determined to go ahead with the sale and is demanding at least £650,000 for the corner plot.

Once the office is closed, anyone needing to collect undelivered items will be faced with a 15-mile round trip to Canterbury, and the news was greeted with dismay by customers on Tuesday.

Mum-of-two Lucy Gavin, 32, of Newton Road in Tankerton, was collecting a picture and a set of marker pens for her children.

The pre-school nursery worker said: "The closure will have a huge impact.

"It has been so convenient.

"The town is expanding and needs a delivery depot even more now.

"With people buying more goods on the internet there are going to be more times when parcels just won't go through the letterbox. What are we going to do?"

Royal Mail bosses say it is part of an efficiency drive to centralise work at the Canterbury depot. They are also closing the Herne Bay depot.

Naomi Potter, 30, of South Street said: "I can drive but it will be a palaver. It will cost me more and the price of petrol keeps going up."

Freelance video-maker Dominic Lobo said: "It will be highly inconvenient for locals."

During the 30 minutes we were at the depot there was a constant stream of people arriving to pick up letters and packets.

This week union representatives were told not to speak to the media. All calls were directed to Royal Mail's press office. But the company, which looks certain to be sold off by the Government, did not respond before we went to press.

THE single-storey brick building which backs onto Westmeads Recreation Ground covers 641 square metres (0.37 acres) and has enough room in its yard to park up to eight vehicles.

Two outbuildings include a workshop, stores, boiler room and bike shed.

Estate agents BNP Paribas Real Estate says: "The premises offer considerable redevelopment potential."

Royal Mail says it will continue to use the building until July 25, 2013 and will lease it back until then for £22,208 a year.

For more details see http://www.dopropertysales.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;