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Cash hopes for town after banking hub blow

Eleanor MaslinEast Yorkshire and Lincolnshire
BBC Graham Stuart - a man with short white hair wears a smart dark suit, pale blue shirt and red tie. He is standing in a street. The background is out of focus and shows red-brick buildings, cars and a road. BBC
Graham Stuart has campaigned to retain banking services in Hedon

An MP says he is disappointed a town will not be getting a banking hub following a review of services.

However, Graham Stuart welcomed moves to improve "ready access to cash" in Hedon, East Yorkshire, when it loses its last bank in January.

Link, the organisation behind banking hubs, said it had recommended additional cash services such as ATMs or an "enhanced post office".

Stuart, the MP for Beverley and Holderness, is due to meet representatives from Cash Access UK – a not-for-profit company funded by major high street banks – later to look at options for improvements.

It comes after Lloyds Bank announced that its branch in St Augustine's Gate would close on 28 January, leaving the town with no bank.

Stuart has long campaigned for a banking hub in the town – a shared space that provides basic banking services for multiple high street banks in communities where branch closures have occurred.

The photo shows a red-brick building. It has four Georgian-style windows and above them are the words 'LLOYDS BANK'. To the right is a cash machine, with the Lloyds logo on it. There is also a cash machine to the left.
The Lloyds branch, the last bank in Hedon, will close in January

Link, which assesses which communities would benefit from a banking hub, initially recommended services should be run from the town's Post Office, which Stuart said "simply isn't suitable".

The MP launched an appeal against the decision and a petition amassed more than 2,000 signatures.

However, following a review, a spokesperson for Link said it had not recommended a banking hub.

Stuart said: "I'm pleased that Link agrees with me, and everybody in Hedon, that the Post Office simply isn't suitable, as it currently stands, as the centre for banking in Hedon when Lloyds closes.

"I'm very disappointed that they don't think Hedon warrants a banking hub, but this is far from the end of the process.

"Hedon needs ready access to cash. Link has already looked at problems at the ATM in Nisa and now they're working with the Post Office and Cash Access UK to work out a long-term solution.

"For my part, I'll be pushing hard for Cash Access to make sure people can deposit and withdraw cash in the town.

"I don't care how that's achieved, but there must be a way for shoppers to withdraw cash in the centre of Hedon."

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