“The new purpose-built office is designed to meet our operational requirements and offer better facilities for customers and our people,” said a Royal Mail spokesperson. “We are now able to load and unload our vehicles on our site, rather than in the street, thus reducing traffic congestion in Narberth town centre and ensuring a safer way of working for our people.
“This is part of Royal Mail’s ongoing transformation of its business to increase the efficiency of its operation as well as providing delivery offices which are fit for purpose for our people and for our customers.
“As a commercial business, Royal Mail is responding to the huge growth in electronic communications and decline in letter volumes, while seeing a high volume of parcels and online shopping which need to be delivered to customers. ”
Performing the opening ceremony, Simon Hart MP, said: “I am delighted to officially open the new sorting office. Living in Narberth, I had to call in at the old one many times for parcels and it was not convenient nor particularly safe. It wasn’t ideal that the post vans used to have to park on a bend just after the top of the High Street to load in the mornings. The new facility is a massive improvement and very impressive.”
The new site features a hedge bank on two sides to help reduce the impact of the building on our neighbours and blend in with surrounding farmland. The exterior lighting is fitted with sensors to dim the lights during operational hours if no movement is detected, and timers to switch them off outside operating hours. Half of the vehicle parking spaces are covered in a permeable surface rather than tarmac to let rain water drain away naturally rather than divert it to a drainage system.
The new building has a number of features to help reduce energy consumption and the amount of carbon dioxide generated. These include rooflights to increase natural daylight in the building, LED lights throughout the building fitted with movement sensors to minimise electricity consumption as well as hot air hand dryers in the toilets instead of paper towels and recycling centres for staff to reduce waste on site.
What this means for customers
If Narberth customers choose to collect mail from us because they were not at home when we attempted delivery, and we could not leave the item with a neighbour,* they can do this from the customer service point at the new Narberth delivery office. This is open longer than the old office and offers dedicated customer parking, including disabled parking bays.
Customers do not need to come and collect their mail from us if they are not able to or do not want to do so. Royal Mail can now leave many mail items with a neighbour* if customers are not at home when we attempt delivery. Customers can nominate a dedicated neighbour to take in their parcels by filling in a form at their delivery office.
Customers can also arrange a redelivery free of charge on a day that is convenient for them (including Saturdays), or Royal Mail can deliver the item to a different address within the same postcode area. This service can be arranged by calling the number on the “Something for You” card we leave or by visiting our website at www.royalmail.com/redelivery.
Tenby and Whitland
We plan to move our Tenby delivery office to the new site in February 2019 - the exact date of this move will be confirmed nearer the time. This follows discussions with the CWU and our people in these offices. We intend to retain a mail collection facility in Tenby for our customers there. We are continuing to discuss the proposed relocation of Whitland delivery office to Narberth with our people.