MP urges Royal Mail to take over Egg building to try to save

[TrueBlueTerrier]

MP urges Royal Mail to take over Egg building to try to save city jobs http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/story ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

DERBY North MP Chris Williamson is urging Royal Mail bosses to look at taking over the Egg building in Pride Park in a bid to save jobs in the city.

He made the suggestion after Royal Mail's announcement that it was to axe 182 jobs in Derby as part of a shake-up of sorting offices across the Midlands.
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Chris Williamson hopes the Egg building could be big enough to house Royal Mail's new machinery – and 300 workers.

It wants to relocate the city's Midland Road sorting office to Nottingham, which has more floor-space to house new machinery.

But Mr Williamson is trying to find a suitable location in the city and then convince Royal Mail to move its Nottingham workers over here instead.

He hopes all 300 workers at the Derby sorting office would then be able to keep their jobs.

He said he thought the Egg building could be empty in the next year after 659 job losses at the company.

He said: "I imagine it would be big enough but I am still awaiting details of the space the Royal Mail needs.

"It is definitely something they need to consider."

In his e-mail to Royal Mail bosses proposing his plans, Mr Williamson wrote: "I understand that a few years ago Royal Mail did look at building on Pride Park where Egg is now located.

"There are of course other sites that could be utilised elsewhere in the city.

"A large part of that building is now vacant and more is likely to become available within the next 12 months. Could we discuss this as a possible site?"

He also wrote that he had heard the lease on the Nottingham building would expire soon.

He wrote: "It would be particularly disappointing if, as a consequence, you had to move out of the Nottingham centre after a relatively short time."

However, a Royal Mail spokesman said although the company would speak to the MP about his idea, it was unlikely the sorting office would stay in Derby.

The spokesman said: "We welcome the interest shown by Mr Williamson and the constructive support offered in trying to identify an alternative site.

"However, we have spare capacity at our existing mail centre in Nottingham and our opinion is that it makes more commercial sense to utilise that capacity than commission a new site elsewhere.

"Whilst no final decision has been made, we have announced our formal proposal to transfer processing work from Derby to Nottingham."

Royal Mail's announcement was the latest in a string of job cuts in Derby, tipping the city's recent major job losses to more than 3,200.

It came in the wake of Bombardier axing 1,429 jobs after the company lost out on the Thameslink contract.

Other blows, on top of Egg, include the loss of 160 jobs after the closure of printing firm BemroseBooth, 750 jobs going at Celanese, and 44 Valuation Office Agency workers being moved to Nottingham.

[clashcityrocker]

But Mr Williamson is trying to find a suitable location in the city and then convince Royal Mail to move its Nottingham workers over here instead.

"It is definitely something they need to consider."

Shouldn't someone tell him he is wasting his time and effort?

[heathrow86]

It seems Royal Mail has made its decision, why wait till the Autumn to make it official?

[Lounge Lizard]

But Mr Williamson is trying to find a suitable location in the city and then convince Royal Mail to move its Nottingham workers over here instead.

"It is definitely something they need to consider."

Shouldn't someone tell him he is wasting his time and effort?

And then someone in Nottingham will find a suitable location in that fine city and then try to convince Royal Mail to move its Derby workers back over there instead.