POSTAL delivery in Huddersfield is very good, says a watchdog.

This is despite the town dropping out of the top 20 for punctual first-class deliveries, says Postwatch.

Postwatch says deliveries in Huddersfield have seen a dip in performance as Royal Mail continually improves nationally.

The watchdog used figures released by Royal Mail this week to compile a table of the country's best-performing postcode areas.

Huddersfield does not feature in the published top 20.

The table is based on the percentage of first class mail delivered the next day. Royal Mail has a target of 93%.

The absence of Huddersfield in the table is significant, considering that in previous years the town has come second and third.

A Postwatch spokesperson said: "Although Huddersfield has dropped out of the top 20 it is still performing very well.

"Huddersfield is achieving 94.3% of first-class mail delivered the next day.

"This is well above both the national average and above the minimum standard set by Royal Mail of 93%, which is good news."

Sunderland tops the chart with 96.2%.

Lincoln and Tonbridge come joint second, both with 96.0%.

Sheffield and Watford are joint fourth, with 95.9%.

The figures represent the performance of Royal Mail for the first three-quarters of the 2005/2006 year.

Performance nationally is 94%, which shows the possibility that Royal Mail may meet its target of 93% for the whole year.

This would be the first time it has met the target.

The improvement is measured against last year's 91.4% and the previous year's 90.1%.

Judith Donovan, chairwoman of Postwatch Northern England said: "I have no doubt that the liberalisation of the UK's postal market has been a key element in the improvement.

"It is no coincidence that record-breaking levels of performance are being achieved in the same year as the market is opened to full competition."

Postwatch also published a table of the worst-performing areas.

Only 13 areas failed to meet the target of 93%. Only Manchester was from the North of England.

All Yorkshire achieved the target.

The worst area in the country was the E postcode area of London, achieving just 89.3% of next day delivery of first-class mail.