Campaigners who have been fighting to have the Post Box restored in Stoke Village were awaiting the outcome of a crucial planning committee meeting on June 23 as the Chronicle went to press.
Luke Pollard, MP for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport, has called on Plymouth City Council’s Planning Committee to ‘give back’ Stoke Village its Post Box, ahead of the meeting.
As D-Day loomed over the fate of Stoke Village’s Post Box, Mr Pollard, who is local resident of Stoke Ward, said it was now down to the Conservative-dominated Planning Committee as to whether they side with local communities or not.
Luke has secured a commitment from Royal Mail to restore the Post Box in Stoke if the removal of the original Post Box is not approved, but this requires Plymouth City Council’s Planning Committee to reject an application for retrospective planning permission.
Royal Mail have said they will not replace the Post Box if the application to remove the original post box is approved. Stoke Ward’s three Labour councillors Sally Cresswell, Jemima Laing and Tom Briars Delve have all been campaigning for the restoration of the Stoke Village post box. Cllr Cresswell has warned the council they ‘cannot afford to set a precedent’ in rewarding vandalism.
Luke Pollard said:
“Every community should have easy access to a post box. The removal of the post box in Stoke village without approval from Royal Mail or planning permission has caused real community concern and disruption.
“Royal Mail have told me they will restore a post box in Stoke Village if the planning committee finds that the removal was wrong.
“So it now all comes down to the decision of the Conservative-dominated Planning Committee. This looks like the only way to get a post box back. I hope councillors back the local community.”
Sally Cresswell, Councillor for Stoke Ward, said:
“To have our post box back depends on the members of the Planning Committee making the right decision in the interests of the local community. They need to do the right thing.
“If localism means anything it shouldn’t mean that a landlord can remove a post box and so deprive a community of its local amenities – in this case the right to post letters. The Council cannot afford to set a precedent here. Basically, if it does, we are on a very slippery slope to ruin and bad behaviour and lack of adherence rules is being rewarded.”
The application was referred to the Planning Committee by Stoke Ward’s Cllr Jemima Laing.
Luke had presented a petition to Parliament in July 2021 signed by hundreds of Stoke residents calling for the return of the post box. In response to the petition, the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP, added his support to the calls.
