VILLAGERS at Lymm have successfully campaigned for their last remaining high street bank to be listed as an “Asset of Community Value” and are now calling for Lloyd’s Bank to have a change of heart and keep it open.
Warrington Borough Council has agreed to list the bank, which was scheduled to close on July 4th, as an asset of community value.
It means the owners now have to give sixth months notice if they wish to sell it. If the local group then wishes to buy it they can then trigger a moratorium for six months to give them time to raise the money.
But there is a requirement for the owner to reduce the price.
Local councillor and campaigner Graham Gowland, said: “The closure of the local branch of Lloyd’s will remove the last bank from the village. It’s very true that banking habits have changed, but a village the size of Lymm has a real need for banking services.
“We have 12,500 residents – not all wealthy, but as a village more affluent than some, as well as over a hundred high street businesses that need to bank cash on a regular basis. There is a real need for a bank.
“The British Banking Association Industry Protocol on Branch Closures calls for a local review and engagement before a branch closes, and while a review has been published, it’s not clear what local engagement has taken place.
“Lloyd’s has one of the lowest ratios of branches to asset, 2.5 branches for every £1Bn of assets, compared to say Yorkshire, which has 6 branches per £1bn of assets, and seems to have really lost out on a marketing USP by being the only bank in the village.
Cllr Gowland added: “The Borough Council has now listed the branch as an ‘Asset of Community Value’, which we believe illustrates the value the community places on our bank, and we understand the bank has a lease until at least 2019 on the building.
“We call on Lloyd’s to help Lymm prosper – one of their corporate social responsibility aims, part of ‘​​Investing In Communities across Britain’ which they are proud of, and to do that by keeping the branch open and working with the community to engage more actively – they could almost certainly win more customers, while providing a vital local service.”
At the time Lloyd’s announced the closure they said the branch only had 18 regular weekly personal and business customers.
2 Comments
A step in the right direction with it being given an ‘Asset Of Community Value’ status but in reality will this really help. If Lloyds are making a loss by keeping the bank open (considering lack of footfall and of use as well as other things like utilities charges such as elec, gas, phone, water rates, business rates, staff pay etc etc)….then in reality maybe even given it’s new ‘protection’ meaning they [Lloyds] have to offer it for sale to the community group at a lesser amount than market value should they wish to sell then as business sense the closure and offered sale to the community group would still still make viable business sense to them. Cut your losses so to speak…….
If it did come to that would the community group have to funds to actually buy it and if they did how would they keep it as a bank? Oooh but of course Warrington Councils have recently backed and part funded a new ‘bank’ so maybe they could move in and open a branch there….now there’s a thought 😉