NEARLY 200 jobs are at risk after Royal Mail announced plans to close Worcester’s sorting office.

Staff at the site in Wainwright Road, Warndon, are “devastated and angry” about the proposals, one union has said.

Worcester’s mail centre faces the axe after postal bosses said they need to reduce staff numbers in the Midlands by about 550.

If plans go ahead mail sent to Worcester will be sorted in Birmingham. It will be the first time Worcester has not had its own sorting office.

Royal Mail wants to have four sorting centres in the Midlands – Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Notting-ham and Northampton – meaning centres in Leicester and Derby would also close.

Brendan Allen, Commun-ication Workers Union (CWU) rep for Worcester, said staff were told at a meeting on Friday. A 90-day consultation is now under way.

He said: “There was a lot of frustration. People are angry and devastated at the same time. We knew it was under review but it was still a shock.

“We have got to make a decision what to do next. Do we accept the proposals or challenge them?

“We need to find a way to manage the change if this is their final decision.

“Some people may want to travel with the work to Birmingham, some may want to take voluntary redundancy, some may want to move into delivery work in Worcester. We won’t accept any compulsory redundancies.”

Mr Allen thinks Royal Mail is putting profit before quality. He said: “They are looking to close three of the best performing centres rather than shutting the worst.” The 186 workers at the Wainwright Road site in-clude distribution drivers, machine operatives and post sorters.

Each Christmas the centre employs about an extra 150 people to cope with demand.

The mail centre in Warn-don is owned by the Royal Mail Pension Fund and leased to Royal Mail. The lease runs out in two years.

Some workers believe it will be used to replace Worcester’s delivery office allowing Royal Mail to sell its premises in Westbury Street.

Mr Allen said: “That is a proposal not on the table at the moment.”

Worcester’s MP Robin Walker said: “It is a shame. I will do all I can to protect jobs in Worcester and spoke with Royal Mail, urging them to keep it open.

“The growth of the parcel and packages business means they need to keep a strong local presence. Esp-ecially with the extra work at Christmas, if anything they need to increase capacity.

“But I understand the pressures they are under to make it profitable.”

A spokesman for Royal Mail said the number of items posted each year in the Midlands has fallen by more than 400 million since 2006 and will be less than half the volume of 10 years ago by 2015.

He said: “Royal Mail is undertaking a modernisation programme, aimed at ensuring a successful future for the letters and parcels business. This involves having the appropriate number of people in our business as well as deploying the latest technology and equipment.”

There will be a meeting between union reps and Worcester Royal Mail workers at the Blackpole Inn, Blackpole Road, on Sunday at 10.30am.