More concern at banks axe
MORE disappointment has been sounded at the decision to close the Co-Op bank in Aberdare, with the move being branded “premature and misconceived”.
FURTHER disappointment has been sounded at the decision to close yet another bank in a valleys town.
The Co-operative bank on Duke Street will close on May 16 as the company aims to reduce its operating costs amid falling customer usage.
It is the latest in a string of bank closures across the town and the county borough as a whole.
In the last two years, Aberdare has seen the closure of its HSBC and Nat West branches.
Elsewhere in the county borough, Porth, Mountain Ash and Treorchy have also lost their HSBC branches with other banks closing in Tonyrefail and Talbot Green.
Last year, Lloyds announced it would be closing its branch in Mountain Ash.
Aberdare East councillor Michael Forey said: “I am concerned.
“Bank closures seem commonplace these days.
“The decision to close this bank down is premature and misconceived.”
Speaking about the proposed alternative to use the post office, he said that the town’s post office is a small building and that there are often queues out into the street.
“Banks can’t dispose themselves of their responsibilities to the community.”
He said that banks have a social element and help prevent loneliness and isolation.
The Co-operative Bank says its Aberdare closure is a response to the changing way that people are banking with a growing number of customers using telephone and online banking services and that there are fewer visits to the bank which makes it unsustainable to keep it open.
Of the customers who used the branch in the last 12 months, 45 per cent visited the branch only once or twice in that period.
But deputy leader of the council, Maureen Webber, said the council is opposed to the withdrawal of banking services from communities and town centres in Rhondda Cynon Taff.
“Bank closures are extremely detrimental to the prosperity of local communities and town centres, and the withdrawal of this key service has a potentially harmful effect on the local economy,” she said. “It appears as though many of the closure decisions are taken at the desk of a head office, and offer little consideration to the needs and requirements of residents, and particularly those on the periphery of the County Borough.
“Services have already been withdrawn in Tonyrefail, Mountain Ash, Aberdare, Talbot Green, Treorchy and Porth; and now many of the affected residents are left with unacceptable travel times that include going outside of the County Borough.”
Council leader Andrew Morgan wrote to the bank earlier this year saying the branch provides a “vital service” to many in the Cynon Valley and that this decision would “disenfranchise” people from accessing vital banking facilities.
He added: “The proposal is likely to also have a detrimental impact on footfall in the town centre and, as a result, may potentially harm the local economy in Aberdare.
“I cannot stress the significance that this decision will have on residents in the Cynon Valley, who have already suffered from a significant number of banking closures over the last two years.”
But the bank says that a number of the services they provide can be accessed at nearby post offices, cash machines and online and that it will do what it can to help customers find suitable alternatives.
The bank closure impact assessment states: “The decision has not been taken lightly and in making this change we have sought to keep the effect on customers to a minimum.”
The nearest Co-operative bank after the closure of the Aberdare branch will be in Caerphilly.
The assessment goes on to say: “We make the difficult decision to close a branch on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration a wide range of factors.
“This includes branch usage by personal and small business customers and the alternative ways to bank in the local area.”
The bank says it has written to customers as well as the local MP, AM and Rhondda Cynon Taf council to let them know about the changes.