POLITICAL leaders in Liverpool and their union counterparts will this week put the finishing touches to a battle plan to save the city’s Royal Mail sorting office.

The fight to save under- threat Copperas Hill has become even more important after the results of a recent economic impact assessment revealed the huge benefit the city centre postal site brings to the city.

Liverpool council last night warned that Royal Mail pulling out of Liverpool would cost the city a total of £26m, with city retailers alone losing out to the tune of £2.3m.

Council leaders will meet the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) tomorrow to finalise plans they hope will save the 1,400 jobs linked to Copperas Hill. They will then meet Royal Mail officials later this month to unveil their proposals.

Around 800 staff are employed directly by the sorting office and another 600 have jobs on a contract basis.

It is hoped the offer of three alternative sites will ensure that Royal Mail will keep a major sorting office in Liverpool. The three sites the alliance is proposing are at the A580 approach on East Lancs Road, Speke/Halewood, and The Vault, in Speke.

The cost of acquiring and making alterations range from £19m to £35m for Royal Mail, but the Daily Post has learned the council, regeneration agency Liverpool Vision and Liverpool 2020 would work to help foot some of the bill if their plans are accepted.

Failure would come at a significant economic cost to the city and could seriously hit the Royal Mail, too, according to work done as part of the council’s proposals.

City council deputy leader Cllr Flo Clucas said: “The cost benefit and economic impact on these show there are real imperatives for Royal Mail to go with this plan.

“We can demonstrate there are more than enough viable places to stay in the city and that it is also the best idea.

“Royal Mail is going to have to demonstrate its reasons for not being in Liverpool, rather than why it should stay.”

Cllr Clucas added: “The current economic climate is such that Royal Mail should be thinking about its customer base and how loyal Liverpool customers have been towards it.”

CWU submitted its own figures for very similar proposals to the Royal Mail in June, but it is hoped the latest round of plans and analysis will “form an offer that cannot be refused”.

Cllr Clucas added: “All of these sites are close to rail, road and boat links – and with fuel prices the way they are, taking cargo by sea is becoming more of an option than ever before.

“They are all capable of expansion, too, which is vital.”

Royal Mail is looking at three possible options, one of which includes moving the entire postal operation to Warrington.

But statistics compiled in recent weeks show the resulting change in postcode would cost £61m, with significant costs in changing communication details on letterheads, websites and insurance details for example.

Cllr Clucas, together with Riverside MP Louise Ellman, the Commons transport committee chair, is also damning of the environmental impact of a move.

“We’re not looking at little scooters plying their trade locally, we’re looking at whacking great big lorries going up and down the motorway.”

Mrs Ellman added: “These issues are massive but we’re focused on the essential part of keeping jobs.”