When Melissa Watt first moved into the Woodlea housing development in Melbourne‘s west five years ago, there were a few show homes around and not much else.
Now, Woodlea is fast becoming a “mini-city” in the suburbs with 14,500 residents calling the area home and the local population expected to swell past 20,000.
There’s an upgraded train station, parks, cafes, a new shopping centre, a child care centre and a doctor’s surgery. A high school is under construction.
But Watt and other locals say there’s one small – but essential – item that appears to have been overlooked in the $2 billion development, which sprawls across the suburb of Aintree and north into Bonnie Brook.
Watt told 9news.com.au they were unsure why Australia Post was yet to install one of its red mail receptacles in the neighbourhood – but the oversight was frustrating.
Fed up with the situation, Woodlea residents started a campaign, posting an online petition two weeks ago calling on Australia Post to install a post box within the development.
Watt said she needed to drive around 10 minutes to a neighbouring suburb in order to send any mail.
“It’s ridiculous. I have to go to Melton or Caroline Springs just to send a letter,” she said.
“I literally drive around with mail in my car, hoping to go past the mail box at some point.
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“If I miss a courier, they take it up to Melton and I have to get there to pick up my item.”
The campaign from Woodlea residents appears to have had some success, with a spokesperson for Australia Post telling 9news.com.au the service had been “working with the Woodlea developers over the past few weeks around the installation of a new street posting box”.
Australia Post was also looking at the option to install “self-service parcel lockers” in Woodlea, the spokesperson said.
Australia Post has 15,000 post boxes around the country.
This number is down from about 16,000 a decade ago in 2012-2013, data from Australia Post’s annual reports show.
The campaign from Woodlea residents comes weeks after Australia Post recorded a $200 million loss amid a massive decline in the number of letters Australians are posting.
Letter volumes have declined 7.8 per cent on the previous financial year, with Australian households now receiving on average 2.2 addressed letters each week, down from 8.5 in 2008, the postal service said.
