Now 23 homes have ban on post delivery

POSTAL deliveries resumed to 84 Meltham houses ... four months after they were suspended after dog attacks on postal workers.

Royal Mail told residents in 84 of the 107 affected properties that deliveries resumed yesterday.

It leaves 23 Meltham households without postal deliveries because residents in 12 houses have not taken action to secure dogs or provide external postboxes. The areas where deliveries remain suspended are: Deer Hill Court: six properties won’t get deliveries due to two houses not having a secure gate and external postbox. Nab Crescent: five properties affected. Copley Avenue: 12 properties affected due to two households not taking action to secure dogs and provide external postboxes.

In a letter to residents, seen by the Examiner, Royal Mail have named the properties they deem unsafe to resume deliveries to, plus neighbours affected.

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: “Royal Mail has now concluded its review of the delivery suspension in Meltham and is pleased to be able to reinstate deliveries to the majority of addresses, from yesterday.

“This is as a result of residents installing external postboxes and providing guarantees on controlling dogs as we requested.

“Unfortunately, we have had to keep suspensions in place for 23 addresses.

“This is because residents have not taken the necessary action to make it safe for us to deliver or because the address is made unsafe to deliver to by a nearby property containing a dog.

“We apologise for this continued inconvenience to those customers who are still affected but the safety of our postmen and women must be our priority.”

Suspensions were put in place in July following a series of incidents with aggressive dogs, including one very serious attack on a postman.

Royal Mail carried out a review and resumed some deliveries but residents were confused why neighbours were receiving post but they weren’t. They also complained about the time the review was taking and having to travel to Holmfirth when Meltham has a Post Office.

Royal Mail say they will continue to monitor safety and if postal workers deem it unsafe to deliver the post it will be returned to Holmfirth and an attempt to deliver made the next day. They say if houses affected make improvements they’ll consider resuming deliveries to all houses. The three streets in Meltham, which still have a post delivery ban, clockwise, from left, Copley Avenue, Nab Crescent and Deer Hill Court