HOMES and businesses in the Southwold area will only receive one postal delivery a day from Monday when Royal Mail introduces a new service.As part of a national move to phase out second deliveries addresses in the Southwold area with a postcode of IP18 will begin receiving the new service from October 13, when all deliveries will be amalgamated into one single delivery.

HOMES and businesses in the Southwold area will only receive one postal delivery a day from Monday when Royal Mail introduces a new service.

As part of a national move to phase out second deliveries addresses in the Southwold area with a postcode of IP18 will begin receiving the new service from October 13, when all deliveries will be amalgamated into one single delivery.

Former mayor John Winter, who is a member of Southwold Town Council, said he was sorry that the changes were being made but could understand why.

"It is a pity that this is happening, as with so many elderly people living in the Southwold area, the post is very important.

"But as this is part of a national project when everyone will be receiving a single daily delivery there is no reason why Southwold should be any different," he said.

Fellow town councillor Susan Doy said Southwold was lucky in having such good postmen and women working in the area.

"We are very lucky here as the postal delivery people are all first class. If we get one good delivery a day I am sure that the vast majority of residents will be happy."

A similar single delivery service has been operating in other areas for some time with homes and businesses in Halesworth changing more than two years ago.

From Monday customers in the Southwold area will receive all their post in a single delivery for the day by lunchtime.

Most mail, however, will be delivered well before this with deliveries starting from 7am. It is anticipated that for many residential customers there will be little or no change to their current delivery time.

Delivery arrangements for business customers will remain unchanged.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "Second deliveries account for 20% of Royal Mail's costs but represent just 4% of the daily mailbag. So it makes sense to combine first and second deliveries.

"The changes will help safeguard Royal Mail's six day a week universal service to all 27 million addresses in the UK.

Changes to the delivery system in Southwold will see the loss of one job from the current ten employed in the area.

The Royal Mail spokesman said that the loss would be covered by retirement and not compulsory redundancy.

"Royal Mail employs around 80,000 people in its delivery operation so the reduction of jobs through the introduction of single delivery is manageable," he said.