Plan to preserve post boxes questioned

A SCHEME to preserve the nation’s historic red post boxes has been questioned by a Saddleworth community champion.

New commitments to protect the character and heritage of post boxes have been set out by Royal Mail and the government agency Historic England. There are 85,000 post, pillar, wall and lamp boxes across England, and 115,300 across the UK — some protected for their historic importance.

Royal Mail has pledged to manage, repair and conserve its network and has set out how the organisation prevents damage and theft.

But former parish councillor Alan Roughley, chairman of Denshaw Community Association, asked: “Will Royal Mail still have anything like 115,000 operational post boxes 10 years from now? Pull the other one.

“Almost all post boxes have fewer collections than even a few years ago. Many in Saddleworth are down to just one a day and we can expect some to be removed altogether in a year or two. Royal Mail is not a keeper of historical artefacts and there is little point in post boxes remaining if letters would never be collected.”

But Saddleworth Parish Council heritage expert Mike Buckley says the Royal Mail announcement is “excellent news”.

“Some post boxes date to the nineteenth and early twentieth century. And, like the red phone kiosks, they add a lot to the character of Saddleworth,” he said.

email: kd_bennett@yahoo.co.uk