Royal Mail submits plans to revamp former Lymington post office on High Street

A RISE in online parcel orders could prove a red-letter day for Lymington as the Royal Mail launches a bid to reinvigorate the town’s former post office, which has lain empty for two years.

Royal Mail’s proposal for the High Street premises has been welcomed by The Lymington Society, with a spokesman saying it meant the building “would at least be brought back into use” and that jobs on the site will not be lost to the town.

The front part of the building was vacated by Post Office in 2019 when it moved to Rashley Mews, but Royal Mail operates a sorting facility and a sales counter at the site, as well as a delivery office, workshop building and customer service point behind.

In its application to New Forest District Council, the company has proposed changing the use of that part of the premises at ground floor level from a mixed post office counter/retail to a parcel sorting space and associated customer service point. The need for more space reflects a changing mix of items that Royal Mail delivers, as parcel volumes increase and letters decline,” the application added.

“Sorting requires much more space due to the higher proportion and greater number of parcels being processed. Essentially, the delivery office has outgrown its established space.”

A suspected influx of new properties locally over the next two decades also put “added pressure on the need to expand current delivery capacity at the Lymington delivery office”, it said.

Don Mackenzie, deputy chair of The Lymington Society, urged the Royal Mail to “think outside the box”, adding it had suggested to the architects using the site’s large windows to promote community facilities such as the museum or the community centre.

The society also want the “neglected phone boxes” at the site entrance spruced up and street furniture re-sited to create a more attractive open space in front of the building.

“This could enable a small town-square to be created for events, or simply provide a pleasant place for people to sit and watch the world go by,” Mr Mackenzie said.