ROYAL Mail bosses have ditched proposals to merge the Swanage and Wareham delivery offices together, it has been confirmed.
There had been a three-month consultation, looking at the proposal to fold Swanage's Kings Road East site into Wareham's Sandford Lane Industrial Estate centre.
Staff had been unhappy with the proposals, which would have seen them having to travel roughly 11 miles to Wareham only to load up their vans and drive back to their delivery routes in Swanage.
CommunicationWorkers Union (CWU) representative Andy Rook said: "There has been a 12-week consultation period between the business, the union and the members.
"We had representatives involved in that and put the issues to the business as to why this proposed merger was inappropriate.
"Our members live in Swanage, they've always worked in Swanage and they deliver to Swanage.
"It would have been absolutely farcical to ask them to get up on the morning drive 11 miles to Wareham, prep their deliveries, get in the van and drive 11 miles back to Swanage to deliver.
"Then after four or five hours delivery get back in their vans, drive another 11 miles to Wareham, sign off then drive a further 11 miles back to Swanage again."
Mr Rook, who is secretary of the CWU Bournemouth & Dorset branch, said of the 19 staff at the Swanage delivery office, 14 are CWU members.
"Environmentally it was wrong and our members were aggrieved," said Mr Rook. "I'd like to add that members in Swanage were also delighted with the amount of public support they received.
"It seemed no one really wanted this merger."
A Royal Mail spokesman confirmed the merger plans have been dropped.
The spokesman said: "Taking all factors into account, we have decided not to proceed with this proposal at this time.
"Royal Mail will continue to review its infrastructure on a regular basis and in the meantime, we will continue to operate the two delivery offices in Swanage and Wareham."
However, Royal Mail insists it is constantly reviewing operations to ensure services can be delivered as efficiently as possible.