There are fears that Alston Moor’s sorting office is under threat of closure, a meeting of the parish council was told.
Royal Mail was said to be undertaking a table-top revision of its delivery office network which could be cause for concern.
The Alston sorting office is a Scale Payment Delivery Office. There are lots of them all over the country and Royal Mail are reviewing them all, the meeting was told.
Parish councillor Brian Cooper said the sorting office was last reviewed two and a half years ago and Royal Mail decided against closing it then.
“No decisions have been made. It is the start of the process, but I would say (closure) is a strong possibility,” said Mr Cooper.
He added that the area’s postmen had been officially told that there was a review going on and they have spoken to their union.
What closure of the sorting office would mean for Alston is that the town’s postmen would effectively “work in Brampton”. They would drive there to get the post in the morning and then bring it back to the Moor.
And Mr Cooper warned that it might mean that the town didn’t have a post office in future.
“If the sorting office moves to Brampton, eventually when the Alston postmen leave, retire, or whatever, those jobs are not going to be Alston jobs anymore,” said Mr Cooper.
He added that if the closure happens it would have ramifications for the post office and Alston Moor.
“At the end of the day it is another service we have in Alston that they are trying to pull out of to save a few quid,” said Mr Cooper.
The meeting was told that a petition was generated last time the sorting office was under threat and it was felt that residents would again not let it go down
without a fight.
However, a Royal Mail spokesman said: “We wish to reassure customers that we have no current plans to close our Alston Delivery Office.”
