First class arrival in region
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The first Royal Mail Chief Executive to visit the Highlands for many years came to Inverness last week.
I was delighted that Moya Greene decided to make the trip after just over a year in the job, to hear first hand the importance of postal services to communities in Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey and across the Highlands.
The future of the Royal Mail and the Post Office network is enormously important to the Highland economy.
The Government has demonstrated its commitment with £1.3 billion investment in the Post Office network, ending Labour’s programme of closures.
Moya came to the Royal Mail having turned around the Canadian postal service, and there is a huge job to be done here in the UK too.
The Royal Mail Bill taken through Parliament over the past year provides the framework to get greater commercial investment into the business, while protecting both the Post Office network and the universal service obligation that matters so much to people here.
During her visit, Moya heard directly from me and others about the high value placed by local people on these services, and was very reassuring about the company’s future plans.
I was also able to raise with her some specific local issues, including the serious problems at the main Post Office in Inverness town centre.
Amidst the dramatic changes taking place in the postal market and with a sharp decline in volume of letters, the potential threat to that service cannot be ignored.
Packages and parcels are increasingly important both to consumers in the Highlands and to local businesses.
Royal Mail currently provides a universal service for all items up to 20kg in weight. I hope we will see the standard and scope of that service maintained and improved across the Highlands and Islands.
This is particularly important, given the unfair and excessive surcharges imposed by many delivery companies and mail order firms.
In campaigning against these unnecessary charges, I always encourage these firms to offer the standard Royal Mail option to customers because it is at the same price anywhere in the UK.
This is one of many reasons why the government’s commitment to maintaining the universal service is so important.
Boost for
rugby clubs
I HAD the honour of welcoming former Scotland international rugby start Andy Nicol to Aviemore on Wednesday, along with colleagues from Royal Bank of Scotland and Scottish rugby.
With RBS the major sponsor of Scottish rugby, they were in the Highlands to launch the bank’s programme of engagement with local clubs.
I have been President of Strathspey Rugby Club for the last two seasons, which is a great honour, particular given the lack of time I have for it at the moment!
But having played rugby in the Highlands as a teenager (for Lochaber), I am delighted to be able to support the development of the game locally.
Under this latest programme, local bank branches will get directly involved with their local clubs, as well as some awards and other measures done centrally.
This engagement and support will, I am sure, make a real difference to clubs and no doubt for bank staff as well.
And with banks, including RBS, rightly under pressure in a whole range of areas, it is good to see something genuinely positive being started in the Highlands.
With the rugby World Cup about to start in New Zealand, I am looking forward to getting behind the Scotland team in their campaign.
But it is crucially important to nurture the game community by community – not only do the clubs themselves play an important role in their own area, but they are the building blocks on which a successful national team is built.
