Royal Mail responds to petition against Newport closure

8.17.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 29th Apr 2010

Following a petition raised and submitted by Newport Liberal Democrats (see earlier news) we have received a reply from Royal Mail regarding the threatened closure of Newport's Sorting and Delivery Office.

This response to the many Newport people who signed our petition in the February local Liberal Democrats FOCUS leaflet looks ambiguous to say the least. In the first paragraph they say that there are no current plans in place to close the office but in the last paragraph they say that they are sorry they could not send a more favourable response. If there are no current plans to close this valuable facility then why are staff so worried and why do rumours persist?

Local Lib Dems submit petition & letter to RM

John Evans, spokesman for the Liberal Democrats said, "Surely it is time to come clean with the staff and public. If we are to go green, and we must, then we need to ensure that nobody has to travel any further than necessary to collect their mail. Centralisation will result in all Newport's delivery personnel having to travel elsewhere to collect their round before being able to deliver it, extra time and money therefore expended".

Over 200 people had returned the petition forms, and the picture shows local Lib Dems outside the Delivery Office with the bundles of petitions which were sent to Royal Mail along with the letter asking that the closure be reconsidered.

Only the Liberal Democrats have been regularly taking action on behalf of local residents. They have been keeping people in touch with what is going on, by delivering Focus newsletters to residents all year round.