ALDERLEY Edge will not let go of its sorting office without a fight.

That's the message from the village as campaigners signed up to a petition to keep services local.

Hundreds have already added their name to a call to halt the sale of the Macclesfield Road sorting office.

And they have pledged their support to workers, who have been told they will be out by October as services are moved to Wilmslow.

Campaigner Derek Wright and parish councillors Mary Maczkowiak and Frank Keegan handed the petition over to the Sorting Office on Tuesday.

Chairman coun Maczkowiak said: "The threatened closure of Alderley Edge Sorting Office would be a disgrace of it were to go ahead. The village needs the facility to collect undelivered post locally and not to have to go to Wilmslow to collect it.

"Many of our residents are elderly and cannot easily get to Wilmslow unless they have a friend to drive them."

She added: "Royal Mail has put cost reductions before service and we will also be writing to the Post Office User Group to complain that the village will suffer a big reduction in service in order to save the annual rent of the Macclesfield Road sorting office. The gain is theirs, the pain is ours."

Borough councillor Frank Keegan said businesses would be hit too, with a higher than average number of people working from home in the village.

"We rely on an efficient delivery service and that must be worse from Wilmslow than it is from Alderley Edge. If we need to collect undelivered mail it means we need to make a trip to Wilmslow. That is not what small businesses need."

Chris MacIndeor, of the Communication Workers' Union, said it was all part and parcel of ongoing cuts that have caused postal workers to go out on strike this summer.

He said: "It is all about pounds, shillings and pence, it is not about service or anything else. It will make the service in Alderley Edge worse not better and they have not even had the decency to contact the local people and local businesses."

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "Relocating Alderley Edge Delivery Office staff to Wilmslow Delivery Office will allow us to streamline our activities at a time when it is imperative for the business to make savings that will enable it to compete successfully on price and quality of service in the highly competitive postal market.

"Such savings provide the foundation for preserving local jobs and services in the longer term.

"All staff at Alderley Edge will transfer to Wilmslow which is a much more suitable building for both staff and our operation. Conditions at Alderley Edge are no longer fit for purpose, for our staff or for operational requirements (access, space, facilities etc.).

"Facilities at Wilmslow are better, safer and provide healthier working conditions.

"Customer deliveries will not be affected by the move to Wilmslow and customers will benefit from extended callers' office opening hours.

"Alternatively they will have a choice of other arrangements for receiving undelivered mail, including free re-delivery to the original address or another local address if more convenient.

"Royal Mail plans to advertise the Alderley Edge Delivery Office building for sale on the open market."