Royal Mail to move to £40 million transport hub

Royal Mail today announced plans to replace three distribution centres with a new #40 million operation.

Centres at Wednesbury in the West Midlands, Nottingham and Northampton, which employ 600 people, will close to make way for the new development at Daventry, Northamptonshire which will create almost the same number of jobs.

The 30-acre site is expected to be operational by next August and will form the hub of the Royal Mail’s new transportation network employing nearly 600 people, the company said.

In a statement the firm said: “The 600 employees who work at the three sites will be given the opportunity to express their preferences for the future, including transferring to a new site, redeployment within other parts of our business or voluntary redundancy.”

The new distribution centre, located on the Drift Logistics Park, Daventry, will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, said a spokesman.

The decision follows Consignia’s announcement in March of a rationalisation of the distribution network.

Consignia bosses say the changes will save around #90 million over three years and cut carbon dioxide emissions by 35%.