A FORMER sorting office which has sat empty for seven years could be transformed into a café, creating as many as six jobs.

Royal Mail’s Lexden Heath delivery office, in London Road, Stanway, closed in 2016 and has remained empty ever since.

But it might not stay empty for much longer as planning consultants have submitted proposals to Colchester Council which could see the former delivery office used as a café.

The applicant said the opening of a new café could create six jobs in Stanway, including four full-time positions.

The former delivery office had been open for more than 40 years and had once been a fully-fledged post office.

A petition launched by Stanway councillor Lesley Scott-Boutell and her daughter Jessica, who was also a borough councillor at the time, sought to save the Lexden Heath delivery office as residents were concerned about travelling across Colchester to the remaining Royal Mail office in Moorside.

Gazette: Petition - Jessica and Lesley Scott-BoutellPetition - Jessica and Lesley Scott-Boutell

Services at the London Road site were gradually reduced but letters were still sorted there until its closure in 2016.

The closure was despite more than 600 frustrated residents signing the petition to save the delivery office.

Speaking at the time, Lesley said she was “so cross” about the decision to axe the Lexden Heath office.

“We have now got to traipse down to [the Moorside office]. It is going to drum up traffic and it is something local people value,” the frustrated councillor added.

Former sub-postmaster Graham Baxter had said it was “a great shame for the residents of Stanway” to lose the convenience of a local delivery office.

The site is just a few minutes from the new home of Blackberry Bakery, which is due to open its Marks Tey branch slightly further along London Road in the coming weeks.

It is also close to the Bungalow Diner – an American style diner which is open seven days a week.

Blackberry Bakery’s expansion caused quite the stir with fans of competing business Jane’s Pantry, also in London Road.

Colchester Council gave the business the green light to move in to a former clothes shop last month.