Royal Mail – Massive restructuring in North West (UK)

Royal Mail blames falling mail volumes for a massive restructuring of sorting operations in the north-west of England that are likely to see the closure of mail centres in Liverpool, Stockport, Oldham and Bolton.

However, Hellmail has learned that plans had been in the pipeline for some ten years with a proposal to combine sorting operations on a new site at former air-base Burtonwood, close to both Manchester and Liverpool and the cessation of its use of the rail network by 2004, key to plans to make better use of the road network. A planning application for development on the Omega South site at Burtonwood had already been submitted.

Preliminary plans included transferring processing from three mail centres, five outward vouching offices and three centres for bulk mail handling to new mail centres and a new regional distribution centre. A new sorting and distribution centre at Warrington to replace Crewe and Liverpool mail centres, a new Chester mail centre replacing the current Chester mail centre were already penned. It also, at that time, included five outward vouching offices in the Wirral and north Wales, and a new Crewe regional distribution centre replacing Brunswick Dock, Westhoughton and Lostock bulk handling centres.

Putting more mail on to Britain’s roads rather with less reliance on the rail network has clearly altered the network structure as well as access and selecting logical sites for distribution, the subject of much controversy, are rapidly reaching the final decision stage.

Steve Cameron, Royal Mail territory director said: “We have now shared our preferred option with our people and we firmly believe these proposals represent the best option for our future mail centre network in the North-west.”

Dave Ward, deputy general secretary of the Communication Workers Union said: “We believe Royal Mail’s plans are flawed, and have suggested a number of alternatives, such as relocating the current mail centre in Liverpool to another site in the Merseyside area.

“Royal Mail as a public service and major employer has an obligation to take into account their social and economic responsibility to the communities they serve. With unemployment in Liverpool being one of the highest in the UK, Royal Mail is failing to meet those responsibilities.

“Making this announcement without completing the consultation and choosing to ignore the agreed process explains why industrial relations are so poor within the industry.

“The CWU acknowledges that changes are needed to modernise the postal industry, but a balance needs to be struck which meets the business plan, service standards and social and economic concerns.” he said.