By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
Complaints over delays of up to three weeks for post have prompted civic chiefs to call on Royal Mail to “take all possible steps to improve the situation”.
A Royal Mail representative will be invited to give a presentation to Tewkesbury Borough councillors over the issue.
The company announced earlier this year that it will be investing £500m to improve the quality of its service over the next five years.
But councillors spoke on Tuesday (September 29) of the “terrible” service residents in their area have faced in recent years.
And some of those who took part in the debate said their agenda papers had not arrived in the post ahead of the council meeting.
Conservative Councillor Paul McLain (Highnam with Haw Bridge), who put forward the motion, said it is “not a criticism of postal workers in any shape or form”.
But he said over the last full year Royal Mail delivered just 75 per cent of first class post by the next day against their target of 93 per cent.
He went on to say that they had missed national targets over the last five years.
“While Royal Mail operates a near monopoly on final mile letter delivered in the UK it competes with a number of postal operators,” he said.
“Postal worker unions have voiced concerns rightly that competitors benefit without contributing to the cost of operating Royal Mail’s infrastructure.
“They do this by choosing to use the universal postal service to deliver parcels in areas that are not profitable for them to send out their vans.”
He said the level of recruitment is an issue and highlighted the major issue locally. The vacancies advertised as of last week were three in Tewkesbury, four in Gloucester, two each in Stroud,
Dursley and Cirencester, one in Tetbury, one in Cheltenham and over a dozen in Bristol, he said.
Cllr McLain said the challenge for councillors is what they can do to assist and improve the service as a small council.
Councillor Sarah Hands (LD, Innsworth), who seconded the motion, said residents have contacted her over the issue.
“I think the last time I had mail was about three weeks ago,” she said.
“And when I do get it it’s a massive pile and most of it is out of date.
“Obviously, there’s really important things for residents like doctor’s appointments.”
She proposed a friendly amendment to request that a representative comes to the council to give councillors a briefing on their issues.
Councillor Mike Sztymiak (I, Tewkesbury North and Twyning) proposed writing to the MP over the deterioration of postal service.
He also said there is a problem with recruitment at the moment.
“Maybe that is reflected in the service we get,” he said.
Independent councillor Charlotte Mills said she “massively” supported the motion.
“I spend a lot of time going down to our local Royal Mail office for elderly residents in Brockworth that are just not getting [post].
“Some of these people are not online so it’s not inclusive for them.
“They have missed appointments. I’m sitting here tonight, and Jason [Mills, fellow councillor for Brockworth], without our agenda packs because we have still not had them through the post.”
She also said Brockworth does not have a regular postie.
Green Party councillor Matt Dimond-Brown, who suggested informing Ofcom, also said residents should contact councillors so that they have “real examples” they could present to Royal Mail.
Conservative councillor Jim Mason (Winchcombe) said: “It’s terrible.
“I mean, it’s the Royal Mail. It shouldn’t be Royal. It should be just Mail, if they can’t do it.”
Councillors also agreed to write to the MPs of Tewkesbury, Forest of Dean and North Cotswolds, who represent parts of the borough, over the issue.
And the council voted unanimously to back the motion.
Royal Mail say they regularly meet with local representatives and community leaders to discuss postal services and hear directly about the issues that matter to residents.
These visits are always valuable and allow them to hear local concerns directly and discuss the challenges facing the operation.
The postal company regularly shares details of roles they are actively recruiting for and ask local stakeholders to help promote opportunities within their communities.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We know how important it is that customers receive their mail when expected.
“The local delivery office is experiencing some resourcing pressures, including vacancies and sickness absence.
“We are actively recruiting to address this. Deliveries continue every day across the area, although at times individual routes may be affected and receive deliveries every other day.
“More broadly, our latest figures show that 84.4 per cent of First Class mail in the GL postcode area is delivered the next working day.”