Hampshire News
Mail office is set to close
9:00am Sunday 12th February 2012
THE postal delivery office in Tadley is to close as part of a shake-up in north Hampshire and Berkshire.
Royal Mail has confirmed that the office, in Newchurch Road, will shut at the end of March, with the majority of its 37 staff moving to the Basingstoke office, in Priestley Road. However, no redundancies are planned.
Bosses at the postal service have blamed the changes on tough trading conditions and the huge growth in electronic communications.
Gary Burgess, Royal Mail’s Thames Valley delivery director, said: “These changes are part of the ongoing modernisation of our business which is vital if we are to place Royal Mail on a sound, secure and sustainable footing for the future.”
Tadley Central borough councillor Stephen West campaigned against the closure. He said Royal Mail had “insisted on pressing ahead with a move that puts profit before people and will result in a third class mail service for our residents”.
Royal Mail first detailed the changes in April last year, which sparked campaigns to save the delivery offices in Tadley and Hook that were under review. Hook has since been reprieved.
Under the plans, mail for customers in the RG7 postcode, which covers Aldermaston and Mortimer West End, will have their post delivered from the Reading delivery office, from Monday, February 20.
By Monday, March 26, customers in the RG26 postcode area will have their post delivered from Basingstoke. The Tadley delivery office will then close.
The Hook delivery office, in Osborn Way, will remain open, but will see 16 of its 50-strong workforce move to Reading. The workforce at Basingstoke delivery office will increase by 34 to 233.
The Mulfords Hill Post Office, in Tadley, will be the collection point for undelivered mail for RG7 customers in Tadley and RG26 customers, apart from those in Bramley, who will have to collect their mail from Basingstoke.