The Leader of the Opposition and Shaw Liberal Democrat Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, is proposing a motion to the next meeting of full Council (7 September) demanding the replacement of five post boxes that have disappeared from various locations in Shaw and Crompton over the last nine months.

Councillor Sykes roundly condemned the unresponsiveness and inactivity of the senior management of Royal Mail over this period. He said:

“Over this period I have written numerous letters asking then demanding action to Royal Mail senior managers, including the Chief Executive.  At least I have been able to find a local letter box in which to post these, but many of my constituents, a lot of whom are elderly, infirm or disabled, cannot and so they encounter great difficulty in sending mail.  Those most inconvenienced are the residents of Dunwood Park Courts who found themselves without a post box since last November.”

“It is simply unacceptable that Royal Mail, which by law is meant to maintain a universal postal service and be a customer-facing business, has failed to replace these letter boxes over the time.  How much longer are customers expected to wait?  At this rate, and with the Royal Mail’s attitude that replacement will happen sometime in the future at an undisclosed date, my constituents might not even be unable to post Christmas cards for a second year running.”

Councillor Sykes’ motion calls on the Council to write corporately to the Chief Executive and Chairman of Royal Mail demanding immediate action.  Councillor Sykes also wants to see a new statutory right for local authorities and local people to be consulted by Royal Mail before a post box is lost or is not immediately replaced.

Liberal Democrat Crompton Councillor Diane Williamson, who is backing the motion, added:

“This is no requirement in law for the Royal Mail to carry out a consultation before taking action and removing a post box, or after a short period of time if they fail to replace one that is stolen or damaged.  Shaw and Crompton Councillors do not believe that this is acceptable.”

We are therefore asking the Council to write to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sports asking for one to be created in law as clearly the voluntary arrangements have totally failed my own, and Councillor Sykes’s constituents who have been massively inconvenienced over many months.”

The motion reads: Missing Post Boxes

Council believes that it is a disgrace and a scandal that over the last nine months five Royal Mail post boxes have disappeared in Shaw and Crompton.

Council recognises that this has caused great inconvenience to residents; most particularly to those living on Dunwood Park Courts, who have been without a local post box since November 2015, and to the many elderly, infirm or disabled residents living adjacent to these five locations, who struggle, or simply find it impossible, to walk to the next available post box.

Furthermore, Council is deeply disappointed by the:

• lack of urgency in the response from the Chief Executive of Royal Mail to representations made on this matter by local Councillors

• vague promises made to reinstate these post boxes at some unspecified future date

• apparent lack of a statutory requirement for Royal Mail to consult with any local authority, and local residents, before a post box is removed from a public location

Council resolves to request that the Chief Executive writes to:

• The Chief Executive and Chairman of Royal Mail Plc conveying this Council’s robust view on this matter and demanding the early reinstatement of these post boxes as a matter of urgency

• The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport asking the Government to establish a statutory requirement for Royal Mail to consult any District or Unitary Council, and local residents, prior to the removal (or non-replacement for a period of more than one calendar month) of any public post box from their area