Sorting office under threat
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by Alan Smith
ajsmith@thekmgroup.co.uk
The writing may be on the cards for
the Royal Mail in Maidstone.
The sorting office in Sandling Road
could be closed in two years’ time if plans to centralise services
for the whole county on a single site go ahead.
Royal Mail has submitted a planning
application to build a new super sorting centre in Medway.
The chosen site is on a derelict
Tesco distribution warehouse between Knight Road and Norman Close,
Strood, and it would replace the county’s four existing mail
centres at Maidstone, Tonbridge, Dartford and Canterbury.
Royal Mail Group said that the
Maidstone Sorting Office was "outdated" and that a new
purpose-built site was needed to accommodate modern sorting
equipment.
The new centre would require 400
fewer jobs than the 3,710 employees across the four existing
sorting offices, but said the intention was to shed the posts
without making compulsory redundancies.
Spokesman Akudo Ike said: "By
asking people to demonstrate a reasonable flexibility, we expect to
be able to find roles for everyone who wants to continue to work
for Royal Mail.
"The operational review is being
undertaken on the basis of the national agreement reached earlier
this year between Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union,
which has been endorsed by postmen and women in a national
ballot.
"We are still consulting with our
unions and our people on our proposals, and we are currently
seeking their input into this proposed location and design. No
final decisions have been made."
Sian Jones, a spokesman for the
Communications Workers Union which represents many of the postal
workers in Maidstone, said: "We will be looking to see there is no
loss of jobs, that workers have sufficient choice and that there is
compensation for any increased travel costs they may incur in
moving to Medway.
"We will also want to be convinced
there will be no adverse impact on postal services locally."
Royal Mail is hoping that Medway
Council may grant permission as earlier as November, in which case
the new centre could open in 18 months’ time in the spring of
2012.
The sorting and delivery operations
from the other centres would then be transferred to Medway over a
period of time.
However there may yet be a spanner
in the works. Ecologists have found a large number of lizards and
slow worms on the proposed site, which may have to be rescued
before construction could begin.
Thursday, September 02 2010
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