Royal Mail Removes Alcester’s New Post Box Beside Nick Skelton’s Gold One

The solar-powered parcel box went two weeks after it arrived, following complaints from residents, the councillor and the MP. Now he wants the pavement put right.

By Alex Harrington 2 min read Source: Stratford Herald
High Street in Alcester on a sunny day, with bunting across the road and shops on both sides
High Street, Alcester. Photo: Colin Park, CC BY-SA 2.0

The new solar-powered post box that was put up next to Alcester’s gold post box has been taken away, about a fortnight after it arrived, the Stratford Herald reports. The red box, which takes parcels as well as letters, stood on Alcester High Street beside the gold box painted to mark Nick Skelton’s showjumping gold at the London 2012 Olympics, and residents and councillors had campaigned to have it moved.

What happened

  • About two weeks earlier: Royal Mail installs the solar-panelled parcel box beside the gold box. Residents and local councillors object that it gets in the way of the town’s landmark.
  • Since then: district councillor Tom Ballinger (Liberal Democrat, Alcester West) and Stratford-on-Avon MP Manuela Perteghella wrote to Royal Mail’s chief executive, saying neither the district council, as planning authority, nor the local councillor had been consulted before it went in, the Herald says.
  • 5 November: Warwickshire County Council, the highways authority, gave permission for the removal work from that date, and the box was taken away.

Cllr Ballinger told the Herald he was pleased Royal Mail had listened, but said the contractors left a mess: cement on the gold box, on a bin and cracked paving slabs. He has asked the county council to look into the work and get it put right. The campaigners’ wish is for the parcel box to be given a new spot elsewhere in the town; no new location has been announced.

Royal Mail hadn’t commented when the Herald published. We’ll add its response if it gives one.

Reporting damage to the pavement

Pavements on the High Street are the county council’s. If you spot broken slabs or other damage that could trip someone up, you can report it on Warwickshire County Council’s report a highway problem page.

For more from the town, see our report on the district council’s talks to buy the burnt-out Three Tuns on the same street.

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Alex Harrington

Alex Harrington grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon and runs What's up, Stratford? as an independent guide to the town.

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