No New Post Box for Chignal Road area

12.46.28pm GMT Tue 23rd Jan 2007

Lib Dem Cllrs Simon Jones + Tom Willis are campaigning for a post box in the Chignal Road area

Hundreds of residents in Chelmsford have been disappointed by Royal Mail failing to deliver a new Post Box. 150 residents of the Chignal Road area signed a petition to have an extra box placed on Chignal Road at the Kennet Way bus stop. But Royal Mail have said it would not be cost effective or viable to provide a box at this place.

Simon Jones, Local Lib Dem Councillor, who is supporting the residents, said "Royal Mail have said that existing boxes, at places like Trent Road, are sufficient for the volumes of mail being posted in the area. They are missing the point that they should be providing a convenient service to customers, not a profit-maximising private company like they increasingly seem to be becoming under Labour. It's a long way from this area to the existing boxes at Pines Road or Trent Road, especially for the elderly, infirm and young parents with children. No doubt if a box was provided at this site, some passing motorists would also stop and pop their letters in."

Local Lib Dem councillors have fought tirelessly for better local facilities, and recently saw the fruits of their labours with the erection of a Bus Shelter at Kennet Way. Nonetheless, they are never complacent about seeking new amenities for local residents.

Local resident, Jean Driscoll, of Scott's Walk, said "There are a lot of elderly people around here, and we are also having a new block of flats built nearby, so that could also mean more business for Royal Mail. After having lost Trent Road Post Office, it would have been a small compensation to have had a more convenient post box."

Cllr Jones sent the petition to Royal Mail in the summer. After a disappointing answer from Rosa Thorpe at Royal Mail Headquarters, he invited her to visit the proposed site and walk with residents from Kennet Way to the existing boxes and see for herself the distances involved. In December Ms Thorpe declined the invitation reiterating that as the existing boxes were not overflowing, they would not site another box in the area.

Residents are considering making an appeal to the postal watchdog Postcomm, but Cllr Jones said "With the Labour Government's recently announced plans to axe thousands more post offices, the situation regarding postal services seems very grim. It's an odd world where billions are spent on fighting a war in Iraq yet a few hundred millions can't be found to keep our own infrastructure intact."