ROYAL Mail has not given up on its plans to merge the sorting offices at Chippenham, Corsham and Malmesbury and is busy looking for a new site for the facility.

A suitable location was identified last year for the merger but plans fell through when another buyer snapped up the site but Royal Mail is still determined to move the three sorting offices from their current unsuitable town centre locations.

Spokesman Dan Panes said: "The sorting offices in Corsham and Malmesbury are very small and the one in Chippenham is not huge.

"They are all in buildings not suitable for the modern needs of the Royal Mail. They all need to be moved and we are looking at ways to do that."

He said they were looking for another site and although that might be on the outskirts of Chippenham this was not a certainty.

He said the service would be more efficient and would require less travelling if there was one sorting office.

"It makes a lot of sense from a business point of view, and for speed of delivery. At the moment mail from the Swindon Mail Centre has to be taken to three separate delivery points and this would be reduced to one."

The proposed merger raised a storm of protest from local councillors who feared relocation to the edge of Chippenham could cause problems for people who needed to collect items of mail.

Mr Panes said they were aware of the issue and pointed out that people could already request items of mail they missed be delivered at a time to suit them and even to a different and more convenient address.

It was also possible to arrange an item of mail to be left at a convenient Post Office though the Post Office would charge for this service.

However nothing has been finalised yet and a new site still has not been identified.

"There are no changes on the horizon at the moment," said Mr Panes.