pic: Jack Simpson

Croydon councillors have started a petition against the planned closure of the Addiscombe Road Royal Mail Delivery Office. On Saturday 12 October, letters were posted to 500 Addiscombe households with an online petition also set up to save the Addiscombe Road site. The petition is in reaction to proposed plans by The Royal Mail to replace the sorting and delivery offices next to East Croydon train station with new luxury apartments. While councillors feel that the sorting office and delivery office buildings need redevelopment, they say these proposals should include a place where locals can collect Royal Mail parcels. If plans do go through, the nearest place for residents to collect their packages from would be on Factory Lane in West Croydon nearly two miles away from Addiscombe Road site. Sean Fitzsimons Labour Councillor for Addiscombe said the petition was aimed to raise awareness of the planned closure, and so far they had been encouraged by the response. He said: ‘The issue in this is that residents were not consulted about it.. There are no signs in the window. During our door-stepping in Addiscombe, we have come across a lot of people that didn’t know anything about it.” “We sent out 500 on Saturday and by Sunday evening we had a 5% response rate which for any one who knows about these things is a great return.” The East Croydon delivery office serves approximately 40,000 households across 7 wards in the borough. The fear is that its removal will make it difficult for many of these residents to collect packages and parcels, adding time onto their journeys and inconvenience to their lives. The Royal Mail refutes this claim and in a statement released in May said “We do not expect there will be any impact to the services we provide to our customers in Croydon.” They said they “make every effort to deliver to customers”, but if missed, other delivery times could be organized or packages could be left with neighbours. “Almost no other company has daily contact with its customers in the way Royal Mail does, and we wish to continue providing consistent and high-quality services to our customers in the area.” Nevertheless, the Communications Workers Union, suggested that residents in outlying areas will find it hard to get to its new centre at the Wandle Park trading estate to collect. This is a view supported by many locals. Ailsa McCluskey, 72, from Shirley, said: “I wasn’t even aware. I buy things online and come and collect them from here several times a month. It would really affect me, all of my journeys would take a lot longer.” Pensioner Tony Morden, 66, from South Croydon, said: “It would be a damned nuisance personally. I’m against these luxury flats being put up anyway.” Avril Jeeves, full time mother from East Coydon, said it was “preposterous” and it would make it harder for her to collect the three packages a week she receives from South Africa. She added: “For many mothers like me and many workers like my husband it is extremely convenient.” Councillor Fitzsimons said he hoped the issue would galvanise local people and promised more action would take place. He added: “We will be delivering about 5000 leaflets over the next week. Already we have had interest from other parts of the borough, we hope people from other wards can pick up on this issue and run with it.” Sign the petition to save Addiscombe road Delivery Office. By Jack Simpson