Postal change causes outcry - Saffron Walden

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Saffron ... 012013.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?

Changes to the postal system locally have been branded “silly” by a Saffron Walden councillor.

Cllr Mike Hibbs planned to address fellow members of Saffron Walden Town Council about Royal Mail’s decision to close Cambridge’s sorting office in early 2014 at a meeting last Thursday in an attempt to formulate a response.

The news means that instead of letters posted in Saffron Walden being sorted 16 miles away, they will instead be sent twice that distance to Chelmsford for the same task, in an attempt to make efficiency improvements.

But Cllr Hibbs acknowledged that there was nothing he could do to change Royal Mail’s decision.

He said: “Sadly, provision of postal services for this town is getting further and further away from us.

“When I had the honour of being mayor in 1993/94 I went to Downing Street to protest against the closure of our post office.

“It is very sad we cannot use it as a sorting office too.”

Cllr David Watson, Saffron Walden mayor, added: “It does look like the decision has already been made to move it.”

Cllr Hibbs is also a director of architects Hibbs and Walsh Associates in High Street.

After the meeting, he said: “If I post a first class letter in Saffron Walden to someone in the town it has to go all the way to Chelmsford – that is silly and seems to me a waste of resources.”

But Ricky McAulay, processing and collections director for Royal Mail East, said: “Change is absolutely essential to meet customers’ expectations of a world-class postal service, ensure we operate efficiently and provide a great quality of service in a smaller and radically changing market.”