SWINDON will be gaining 600 new jobs but at the expense of 400 jobs in Reading and Oxford.

Royal Mail has chosen Swindon to have the largest, state-of-the-art mail centre in the country and invested £20m in the process.

Building work in Swindon is scheduled to be completed by October and the transfer of work from Reading and Oxford is scheduled to be completed by next June.

Delivery and collection operations across the Swindon and Oxford postcode areas will not be affected as a result of the change.

There are currently around 400 employees at the Swindon Mail Centre at Dorcan, which will be expanded under the scheme, and this will rise to between 900 and 1,000 employees once the work transfers.

Royal Mail employees at Oxford and Reading will take part in a preference exercise to establish whether they wish to transfer to Swindon, remain in other roles within their existing area and there may be opportunities for voluntary redundancies.

Until the exercise has taken place Royal Mail won't know how many of its existing employees will want to take up the new jobs.

Union representatives hoped that they would save the hundreds of jobs in Reading but hopes were dashed when they learned that their centre would close.

Royal Mail announced their intentions last year for the revised plan for the Thames Valley postal network.

"In a fully competitive postal market Royal Mail needs to change and this project represents a big step forward in making changes that will benefit our customers, our business and our people," said a Royal Mail spokesman.

"Some £20m is being invested in this project and once complete, the new Thames Valley Mail Centre at Swindon will be the largest, state-of-the-art mail centre in the country.

"We believe that moving work from Oxford to our extended facility in Swindon, which will be equipped with the latest technologies, will enable us to address an urgent need to improve the reliability of the mail services for our customers.

"Our continued priority as we take forward this plan will be to fully support our people at all sites.

"Royal Mail has an excellent track record of managing people through change and we will put into place a positive support package to help our people through this period."

"We will continue to discuss the changes with the unions and our employees through the life of the project and beyond."

Christina Howell, head of external affairs at the Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce Group, said: "This is great news for Swindon, as it is sure to generate new jobs and improve Swindon's already esteemed reputation as an ideal location for new development, expansion and indeed inward investment.

"Although there has been resistance from workers in Reading, with claims of job losses, those who work in the Reading offices will have the option of continuing their employment in Royal Mail's Swindon development.

"This modernisation and consolidation is normal practice for a business and it is vital in ensuring the improvement of Royal Mail's services. Considering the negative press that Royal Mail received during last year's strikes, it is encouraging to see Royal Mail pouring effort into restoring its deserved reputation of profitability and performance.

"This £20 million development is a leap forward in making changes that will benefit Royal Mail's customers. The new facility will be the largest, state of the art centre in the country, equipped with the latest technologies and will enable Royal Mail to improve its efficiency and consistency.

"The Chamber has always maintained a good working relationship with Royal Mail and we are delighted to see evidence that Royal Mail is committed to improving business conditions." .