JUBILANT villagers have won their fight to save Radlett’s delivery office after Royal Mail announced they have withdrawn plans to relocate the service to Borehamwood.

For the last year residents have been campaigning to keep the delivery office in Watling Street open following news that it was going to be moved to a new location around three miles away.

But in a surprise U-turn the mail delivery firm has now said due to feedback from its union and staff they have “no plans” to shut it down.

The Herts Advertiser previously reported how resident Malcolm Bermange, of Medow Mead, feared it would take him two hours using public transport to collect his letters and parcels from the office in Borehamwood.

Commenting on the latest decision he said: “Naturally I was delighted to hear that the delivery office is to remain open. It has always been an important part of our village.

“It shows that large organisations can often be persuaded to change their minds if pressure is put on them, and also demonstrates that in this increasingly electronic age the local press still has an important role to play.”

Royal Mail stated in May 2011 the delivery office would be transferred because of “declining mail volumes and increasingly tough trading conditions”.

This sparked outrage from residents, many of whom submitted letters of objection outlining how the office is an integral part of village life.

Radlett local Clive Glover, who joined the battle to save the service, said: “It is a surprise because we did not expect these sort of things to be changed. The main thing is we will still have a local sorting office where we can collect things from.

“It is nice to think we have won. It is a good example of a small community getting together to fight something. I think it is going to mean a lot to people, someone said it is Christmas come early.”

Peter Evans, Aldenham parish council manager, commented: “I think from the parish council’s point of view we are pleased it is staying in Radlett. It is a building which the parish council wanted to keep in community hands and was not in favour of the applications that have been put forward to transfer it to other uses.

“From a parishioners point of view it is good people can continue to pick up their parcels and letters and that is what we always wanted to happen.”