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Jobs could be at risk as Royal Mail considers centralising part of its Perth delivery operation to Lanarkshire.
The company has outlined plans to, potentially, move the Perth walk-bundling operations to its national base in Wishaw.
The South Lanarkshire centre is one of Royal Mail’s nine major UK mail and distribution centres and is the only one in Scotland.
The cost-cutting proposals could affect nearly 20 staff in Perth, with their futures currently unresolved.
Staff at the walk-bundling centre, based on Feus Road currently prepare thousands of leaflets every week for delivery to homes across Tayside and Fife.
Negotiations with staff, trade unions and local politicians are underway to secure the futures of staff.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We are reviewing the possibility of relocating the marketing mail sorting operation from the Feus Road Delivery Hub to the Scottish Distribution Centre in Wishaw.
“It would be premature to comment on these plans as we are in early stage conversations with around 17 impacted colleagues and our union about finding a suitable outcome.”
While Royal Mail stresses no decision has been made yet, the potential relocation is understood to have been being considered since around 2016 and has come to boiling point this month, with staff contacting Perth and North Perthshire MP Pete Wishart, calling for political intervention.
The long-serving SNP parliamentarian has now called for an “urgent” meeting with Royal Mail bosses to discuss saving the future of the facility and its staff, having already met workers at the site more than once.
Mr Wishart said: “I am really concerned to hear that Royal Mail are consulting with staff over the potential closure of part of the Feus Road facility in Perth.
“I have been along to visit staff at Feus Road on a number of occasions and I know how hard they work. I will be contacting Royal Mail to arrange an urgent meeting with them to seek reassurances about the Perth site.
“With a number of large scale housing developments on the go in Perthshire, it hardly seems the time to be scaling back on Royal Mail provision in the area.”
