Mail sorting offices are closed for good

Two Shropshire Royal Mail delivery offices were today closed with 16 staff moved and a further four made redundant.

Operations at Ellesmere and Church Stretton sorting offices were transferred to Oswestry and Craven Arms as part of a Royal Mail move to cut costs. Pete Kelly, Communication Workers' Union representative today, said he was still in negotiations with Royal Mail over staff working conditions, and was sad to see the two sorting offices close.

"They are moving today, the staff are gone and we are still trying to get some issues resolved; Royal Mail is in transit at the moment trying to get some duties sorted out but that's ongoing, we have to sit down with them sometime next week and go through the changes that have occurred," Mr Kelly said.

"In Church Stretton they have made them absorb more workload than they had before the move.

"The staff are all quite sad to be leaving, there's some very upset people, some people are extremely upset, but again in the beginning they decided the best plan was to try to get on with it and get the best duties that we can out of it.

"It's a shame we could not have got it sorted but in the end they decided rather than fight they were more fearful about losing their jobs so it's best to get the best deal out of it that we can."

Pete Holloway, Ellesmere town clerk, said he was sad to see the delivery office closed after a fight by residents to keep it open.

He said: "It is a sad day, it's quite disappointing when you represent your fears and they are shared by the entire population of the town but it didn't seem to count for anything.

"It's another case of a local community service disappearing."

Jacquie Stenson, Royal Mail spokeswoman, confirmed the delivery offices closed today, and assured residents of Ellesmere and Church Stretton that delivery services would be unchanged.

"The changes at Ellesmere and Church Stretton have taken place today and all deliveries have gone out as planned," she said.

"It's very important to us that we provide a good service to all our customers in Ellesmere and Church Stretton, we are determined to keep the impact of the changes to an absolute minimum and we will continue to work with our people to ensure the best possible standard of service is maintained."

By Abigail Bates