Comment: Welcome effort to save key office

Aug 4 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

IT IS encouraging that political leaders and their union counterparts in Liverpool are joining together in a campaign 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.

It is hoped the offer of three alternative sites will ensure the Royal Mail will keep a major sorting office in Liverpool.

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.

Losing the sorting office would be a grievous blow in other ways: Liverpool council says that pulling out of Liverpool would cost the city a total of £26m, with city retailers alone losing out to the tune of £2.3m.

The three sites the council/union 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 council, regeneration agency Liverpool Vision and Liverpool 2020 would work to help foot some of the bill if their plans are accepted. This sounds like an offer which is too good for the Royal Mail to refuse, but it also shows how serious the parties are in retaining the sorting office on Merseyside.

The Royal Mail moving farther afield would also have major environmental implications, leading to, as the city council’s deputy leader Flo Clucas puts it, "whacking great big lorries going up and down the motorway."

The Royal Mail will, of course, reach its own decision using its own criteria. But at least this alliance is doing everything it can to influence that decision in Merseyside’s favour.