Selby District Council in Royal Mail cutback

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Selby Council has dumped the Royal Mail for some deliveries in favour of a private company, sparking concern from opposition councillors.

The council has begun sending its post through TNT. A spokeswoman said the Royal Mail would still be used for first-class and items sent through recorded delivery. However the vast majority of items were sent second-class.

Several members of the ruling Conservative group, including council leader Mark Crane, said they did not know the decision had been taken, although they were aware it was being considered. Coun Crane said it would have been made to save money.

He said: “We’ve got a responsibility to the taxpayers of the district to get the best deal we can. We’ve gone out and looked at that and TNT have shown themselves to be the cheapest.”

But Coun Steve Shaw-Wright, leader of the Labour group, said he was concerned that councillors did not know the decision had been taken and said he thought they should be supporting the Royal Mail.

He said: “I’m appalled on a number of accounts, one being that no councillors knew. I knew we were being kept in the dark but the Tories were being kept in the dark as well. I’m also appalled that they are going to TNT from Royal Mail.

“As an institution, local authorities should support it. Being a Conservative authority, they are supposed to be about keeping post offices going and supporting British industry and they have given it to an American company.

“At the town council, we use local post offices as much as possible as a matter of course. With the amount of post the district council generates, I would think would go a long way to keeping the post office viable."

No one was available at Selby Council to say how much money the switch would save or how many items of post the council sent out annually.

But a spokeswoman confirmed there were approximately 37,000 homes in the Selby district, all of which would receive at least one item of post from the council each year in the form of the council tax bill.

She said: “We are currently using both Royal Mail and TNT as this offers us the most cost-effective and efficient service. This is all about how we can meet our strategic theme of Making Better Use of Resources.”