Residents and local councillors are reeling after Royal Mail revealed that it would not replace the stolen post box in Wilburton.

A spate of post boxes were stolen across the district in Aldreth, Haddenham and Wilburton in June and the Aldreth post box has since been replaced, and the Haddenham one is scheduled to be renewed.

However, the Haddenham Hill/West End Wilburton post box "is not intended to be returned to service or be replaced at this stage", which Cllr Bill Hunt says "is not good enough."

Ely Standard: Cllr Bill Hunt at the site of the missing post box. Cllr Bill Hunt at the site of the missing post box. (Image: Bill Hunt)

East Cambridgeshire District Councillor for the Stretham Ward, Bill Hunt, said: "I think it's rather substandard behaviour."

"There will be a lot of people and a lot of elderly who will now have a worse service, and I think it's a backhand way of giving less service."

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According to Cllr Hunt, a spokesperson for Royal Mail justified the decision by saying that another post box located at the Old Post Office site in Wilburton village centre is within "a few hundred yards" of the stolen post box.

However, Cllr Hunt says it is more like half a mile for West End Wilburton residents to get to the Old Post Office site, and Elderly people who rely on the service will now suffer.

Ely Standard: The site of the old Wilburton Post Office near High Street/Twentypence Road junction, which Royal Mail want residents to now use.The site of the old Wilburton Post Office near High Street/Twentypence Road junction, which Royal Mail want residents to now use. (Image: Bill Hunt)

Residents have complained to Cllr Hunt that they will have to ask their neighbours who have a car to drop their letters at the post box because it is now too far to walk.

Cllr Hunt added: "Their [Royal Mail's] answer is quite clearly that there wasn’t enough demand.

"Well, the point is that it’s a public service in my view; it’s something we cherish, and we’ve had as a nation for a long time."

A spokesperson for the Royal Mail has since told the Ely Standard: "Ofcom, our regulators, requires that we measure the distance between postboxes by straight line distance.

"We’re obligated to keep 98 per cent of all households across the UK within half a mile of a postbox by that measure."

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Lucy Frazer MP has joined with Bill Hunt and is far from content with the dramatic reduction in service, and said: "This is unacceptable."

Ms Frazer and Cllr Hunt hope that Royal Mail re-thinks its policy and avoids an escalation of the matter.