Town councillors have this week supported plans for new community banking facilities to be set up in Burnham-On-Sea to offset the impact of Lloyds Bank closing in the town this autumn.
Councillors heard at their meeting on Tuesday (September 17th) that the Waffle Hub Cafe in Burnham’s College Street is in talks with various banks about launching a community banking service there.
It comes after we reported here that Lloyds Bank in Burnham High Street will shut down on November 13th due to declining use caused by a rise in digital transactions.
A meeting was recently held to discuss the establishment of a Banking Hub in Burnham on
Sea with councillors Millard and Perry, plus a representative from Burnham Chamber of Trade, The Waffle Hub and a former local Bank Manager.
Councillors heard that a potential application to create a full banking hub in Burnham, with banking services provided by several banks, had not yet been viable as the first stage of this process considers access to cashpoint machines in a town. “On this criteria alone, the request for a review was turned down,” said Cllr Sharon Perry.
In the light of this, councillors were told at this week’s meeting that the Waffle Hub had advised that various steps were being followed to try to establish some form of community banking service.
Contact has been made with Lloyds who are proposing to send a community banker to the Waffle Hub on a specific time and day of the week, which would exclude access to cash.
HSBC has offered to supply a community banker once a month, while NatWest would also consider sending someone to the facilities on a regular basis around availability.
The town council gave its support to the proposals by the Waffle Hub and added that the council will be writing to MP Ashley Fox requesting his support and action to pursue further the establishment of a Banking Hub in the town.
