Our Royal Mail Parcel Locker located outside our shop Pleasant View Off-License in Crawshawbooth BB4 8BH has once again drawn the ire of Rossendale Borough Council. They allege that we are in breach of planning, when this is not the case, since Parcel Lockers are a Permitted Development Right.

Please leave a comment and let us know how our Royal Mail Parcel Locker has benefitted you personally.

On 13th November, Rossendale Borough Council served us an informal notice to remove the locker before 17th December. Failure to comply will be met with legal actions:

• Serving of a formal Enforcement Notice under Section 172 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990
• Prosecution for non-compliance.

When I emailed them to elaborate on what the presence of our locker constitutes as breach of planning, they sent a copy and pasted reason of our previous InPost Locker's removal reason:

"The Royal Mail locker is in a prominent position in front of the principle elevation of the property, the locker appears an incongruous addition to the streetscene and is inherently unsuitable to the prevailing residential character of the area. " - Mr Gareth Walker Senior Planning Officer for Rossendale Borough Council.

I informed him that Parcel Lockers are a Permitted Development Right, and have not had a reply back since 13th November.

I sincerely believe Mr Gareth Walker and the council will ignore our rights, and still choose to serve legal actions against us.

Rossendale Borough Council should not be allowed to abuse their authority to infringe on our rights.

In order to fight this we:

• Have informed our Local MP Andy MacNae (andy.macnae.mp@parliament.uk) who will raise the issue with the council.
• Informed Lancashire Telegraph, who is reaching out to Royal Mail and Rossendale Borough Council for comment to write a news story.
• Informed Rossendale Free Press and BBC News.
• Are working with Royal Mail to help us in our fight.

In order to assist us, the following could help:

• Voice your concerns to the Local MP for Rossendale and Darwen Andy MacNae ( andy.macnae.mp@parliament.uk )
• Direct complaints to the Council ( complaints@rossendalebc.gov.uk )
• Sign this petition, and share it on other social media platforms, along with informing family and friends.

Additional Information:

There are many businesses in Rossendale that have outdoor parcel lockers, they did not need to apply for planning permission, nor were they forced to.

I mentioned to them all the benefits it has to the people, less traffic congestion, convenience, and even counts as a local amenity.

Rossendale Borough Council has been uncooperative, they do not wish to work on a resolution, they simply want the Royal Mail Parcel Locker gone.

We had this exact same issue with regards to our previous InPost Parcel Locker, the council wanted that gone despite many objections to their decision.

Rossendale Borough Council does not want us to have any Parcel Locker.

I want to let everyone know that Royal Mail and their legal team sees this petition, and appreciates all the support.

Keep spreading the word.