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A planning application by Royal Mail for the removal of 36 dedicated staff parking spaces at its Bury St Edmunds delivery office has been described as an ‘insult’ to residents.
The postal company has submitted an application to West Suffolk Council, to vary a condition of the approved 2005 scheme for the delivery office, in Skyliner Way, Moreton Hall.
As per the original approval, there were 36 dedicated staff parking spaces, but this application seeks permission to remove these due to the current operational needs of the delivery office, including the provision of electric vehicles.
In October, West Suffolk Council, the local planning authority, served a breach of condition notice on Royal Mail, giving it until November 27 to stop parking fleet and commercial vehicles in an area it has designated under a planning condition for use as private car parking.
A failure to comply is a criminal offence and could result in court proceedings and a fine.
Moreton Hall residents – and their residents’ association which represents them – have been growing increasingly frustrated at the increased parking in their roads since Royal Mail banned its staff from parking their own vehicles on-site at the delivery office last year.
Andy McGowan, vice-chair of Moreton Hall Residents’ Association (MHRA), said: “For the past year, Moreton Hall residents and road-users have been the ones having to pay the price for Royal Mail’s actions in removing staff parking.
“We are the ones who have had to deal with constant congestion on our residential streets, with near-misses and even collisions, and with Skyliner Way effectively turned into a single lane road with buses and HGVs having to go onto the wrong side of the road. It cannot continue.
“So for Royal Mail to propose a permanent reduction in earmarked parking spaces for staff, with not even a single mention as to the burden placed on residents because of staff parking issues, is an insult to the residents of Moreton Hall and raises concerns as to how seriously Royal Mail take their responsibilities as part of this community.”
Mr McGowan said Royal Mail had failed to set out key information in the application such as what proportion of staff will be able to park on site at any one time, or even a single mitigation for if there is not enough space for the majority of staff to park.
“And Royal Mail have at no point sought to engage with either the residents’ association or residents directly as to how this ongoing issue can be solved,” he added.
He invited Royal Mail to ‘engage with us, meet with residents, hear their concerns and answer their questions about your proposal’.
At yesterday’s full council meeting, Cllr Birgitte Mager, a Moreton Hall councillor, urged the leader of West Suffolk Council, Cllr Cliff Waterman, to ensure this issue would be taken ‘very seriously’, and the planning application would not be allowed to be a ‘bit of window dressing’.
Cllr Waterman replied that the legal processes needed to be allowed to take their time, but added: “Royal Mail I think are acting in very bad faith in the way they are working at the moment in terms of the car parking.”
Speaking with SuffolkNews, Cllr Mager said she was ‘delighted’ Royal Mail was now reacting to the concerns raised, but she hoped the planning application would be relooked at by the company.
Royal Mail was approached for comment.
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