134 take redundancy at Shrewsbury Royal Mail sorting office
More than 130 people have taken voluntary redundancy as Shrewsbury's Royal Mail sorting office prepares to close later this month, it has been revealed today.
But compulsory redundancies at the Castle Foregate site have been avoided entirely, Royal Mail bosses said.
The sorting office is now in the process of being wound down and it will close entirely by March 24.
From that point, bulk items from large companies collected from the local Shrewsbury area will be sorted at Chester mail centre.
Closure plans were announced in November 2012.
Royal Mail bosses have made the move as part of a wider review of its mail centre operations in response to the growth of online communication and falls in the number of physical letters being sent.
At the time, Royal Mail said it was delivering 58 million items a day compared to 84 million items a day six years before.
Of the 266 staff that previously worked in the sorting office, 134 people are taking or have taken voluntary redundancy.
A total of 68 jobs will remain in Shrewsbury, connected to the new mail processing operations being carried out at Chester Mail Centre.
A further 28 workers are transferring to Wolverhampton, 17 to Chester and 19 to local delivery operations.
The delivery office operation based on the same site is continuing, with 175 staff employed.
The Castle Foregate building will still continue to be in service as a delivery office for Shrewsbury and the surrounding area, as well as being the base for network services in Shropshire and Mid Wales.
Royal Mail officials today said there are no plans to stop the use of the building.
Geoff Braden, Royal Mail operations director, said: "We recognise that this is the end of an era for the mail processing centre in Shrewsbury.
"Change, however, is absolutely essential to meet customers' expectations of a world class postal service and to ensure that we operate efficiently and provide a great quality of service in a smaller and radically changing market.
"The mail centre closure and transfer of mail processing to Chester, Wolverhampton and Cardiff, is in response to those challenges, from digital communication, competition and mail volume decline.
"But our aim remains to secure as much long-term employment and job security as possible for our people and to deliver an efficient, consistent and reliable service for our customers."
