FEARS that plans were being made to relocate Royal Mail’s delivery office in Biggar have been quashed.

Concerns had circulated in the community that the future of the hub was under threat, with rumours of it being moved to Lanark.

At a meeting of Upper Tweed Community Council last month, secretary Stephanie Jackman said the reported relocation would be a “disaster for the area”.

Now Tweeddale MP David Mundell says he has received assurances from Royal Mail that plans are not being made to move the office.

Mr Mundell, who represents Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale for the Conservatives, said: “Given the valuable role played locally by the Biggar Delivery Office, I can well understand the worries raised at the possibility of losing it.

“As was rightly pointed out by the Upper Tweed Community Council, moving the sorting office to Lanark would have posed a huge problem in particular for people who needed to pick up a parcel, for example.

“As I stressed to the Royal Mail in my letter to them, the existing arrangements work very well, being a hub for mail deliveries across a very large rural area from Tweedsmuir in the Scottish Borders to Wanlockhead in Dumfries and Galloway and much of rural Clydesdale between.

“In their reply to me, the Royal Mail admitted that they do periodically review their delivery office estate, and I expect this might have been the cause of the initial concerns, but also confirm that they have no current plans to relocate the Biggar Delivery Office.

“I am glad that any immediate threat to this local facility is off the table but will, of course, closely monitor any future developments to help ensure it is protected in the long term.”