Coldham Green Letter Box

The letter box in Coldham Green was once the subject of a speech in Parliament.

Photo: Liz Sankey, Feb 2024

The second issue that I want to raise involves a specific problem that arose some three years ago because of the decision of Mrs. Rogers, the then sub-postmistress at Coldham Green¹, Deopham, to retire from running the post office in Pie Lane. As she was retiring, she requested that the post box in her front garden be taken away. Indeed, the parish council suggested that the box should be resited somewhere else, which seemed perfectly reasonable. It also seemed reasonable that Mrs. Rogers should no longer have a post box in her front garden when she was no longer running the post office.

The problem that subsequently arose has endured for so long because of Royal Mail’s failure locally – I stress the word “locally” – to understand, recognise or acknowledge the difference between resiting and removing. Thus, the local Royal Mail manager’s response to concerned local residents, to the parish council and to me has been to ask why residents of Coldham Green should have an additional post box. In fact, all that local residents are asking for is the relocation of a previously existing box in a slightly different place. The local Royal Mail manager has gone so far as to allege that there is a post box in a place where there is none.

I have gone to the chief executive and chairman of Royal Mail, who have been helpful, and I look forward to receiving a sensible response. I have walked the route that people must now take, and I can see how dangerous it is. Without a post box in their area, local people must walk to the other end of the village down a road that has a 60 mph speed limit although it certainly should have a lower limit. Young mothers with prams must push their small children down the lane to the post box at the other end of the village, but there is no verge and there is nowhere for them to hide. That is not a practical option, and many people refuse to take it and are thus deprived of a service. I hope to get a sensible answer out of Royal Mail in due course, and also some indication that it will encourage its local managers to take a slightly more helpful and interested approach. Postwatch is also escalating the priority attached to the local complaint, and I hope that there will be a resolution.

http://www.richardbacon.org.uk/

The old Post Office in Pye Lane

Photo supplied by Steve Allen

Postscript

There is a radio recording with transcript of Barbara and John Rogers talking about running the Post Office in Pye Lane. This can be accessed here.

Footnote

1. It looks as if the M.P. was confused about his geography of the village: the old Post Office was in Pye Lane not Coldham Green, as indeed he carries on to say later in his speech. ↩︎

Date	Change
9/2/24	Published