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A village that has gone without a post box for three years finally has somewhere to put its mail.
Badbury’s wall-mounted King George V postbox, a part of Badbury village’s historic conservation plan, was allegedly stolen in 2019, starting an ongoing saga that has lasted from then until now.
But after intervention from Ridgeway ward councillor Gary Sumner and South Swindon MP Robert Buckland, as well as from Badbury villagers themselves, and some complications along the way, a new postbox will finally come into use.
Swindon Borough Council’s Gary Sumner said: “I’m delighted to see that a working post box is now open in Badbury after 2 years.
“My thanks to Robert Buckland for his assistance in pressing Royal Mail following the removal of the original box and then arranging a meeting for myself and residents (which in the end wasn’t required).
“Royal Mail finally accepted they could work with the new location (which they chose some time ago). Other unsuitable locations were rejected by myself on behalf of residents.
Following the alleged theft of the original wall-mounted post box, Royal Mail patched in the wall but locals weren’t happy with the finish.
The company was then given planning permission to replace the stolen postbox with a similar one, which happened in 2021.
But the new post box was painted black marking it not in use, meaning the village was still without a safe means to post mail without having to cross the busy A346 to get to the nearest one.
Earlier this year a new modern postbox was installed and was in use briefly until this new location, on a small island next to the village’s phone box (now a defibrilator), was found to be unsafe.
A meeting between residents and the Royal Mail was then scheduled to take place to discuss yet another new location for the postbox, but the situation has now been resolved without that needing to happen.
Michael Hogg, Royal Mail’s senior public affairs manager said in a letter to Gary Sumner: “I am pleased to say that the replacement postbox installed on Horsehoe Way, Badbury was made available to use.
“I am really sorry for the time this has taken but I hope you and local residents are pleased that the postbox is now available.”
Gary added: “At least residents can send post again!
