South Leeds Life can reveal that the Royal Mail are planning to change the postcodes of tens of thousands of south Leeds residents and businesses, as part of a major new cost-cutting strategy.
A leaked document from the Royal Mail indicates that the newly privatised body has commissioned London-based management consultancy firm BS Solutions Ltd, to “identify and implement key cost-saving measures across the core northern cities.”
And one of their 13 proposals for Yorkshire and the Humber is to “rationalise and restructure the distribution of postcoding in inner south Leeds.”
Under the new proposals, the LS10 and LS11 postcodes will be switched – so everyone in the area will have the first part of their postcode swapped, with the second part remaining unchanged. The communities of Beeston, Holbeck and Cottingley will therefore all get LS10 postcodes, whilst Middleton, Belle Isle and Hunslet will become LS11.
Royal Mail were unavailable for comment, but South Leeds Life contacted BS Solutions. Their representative Hugh Spyn-Webb told us via email:
“We appreciate that these measures will be of some inconvenience to local people. But our cost benefit analysis has demonstrated that this will deliver significant efficiency savings.”
He continued: “It’s important to recognise that the most important thing has to be the bottom line: saving money for all stakeholders. We all have much to benefit from these proposed changes.”
But local residents plan to launch a campaign against the switch. Their spokesperson April Fulton dismissed the proposals as “ridiculous and insensitive”, and told South Leeds Life:
“We’re calling on people across south Leeds to protest against this preposterous scheme – and fight to keep our postcodes the same, for good.”
Royal Mail chiefs are due to meet later this month to review the proposals. They are inviting comment from those due to be affected by the changes, at www.myroyalmail.com/feedback (quoting reference: WY/Leeds/AF). If the proposals are approved, they are likely to come into effect in a year’s time, in April 2015.
I trust this is an April Fools Joke. !!!!!!!
I think we’ve been rumbled, but I hope enjoyed the fun.
No, I did not enjoy the fun. I have only just seen this at 22:00 so well past 12 noon. I can take a bit of fun along with the next person but there are that many changes going on with this government, most of them stupid so I believed this. Please be more careful before you go upsetting elderly people like this again.
I’m sorry if you feel we misled you. We did publish the comment below at 12:05pm admitting that it was an April fool.