Pledge to fight plans to close Barnard Castle's NatWest bank branch

THE planned closure of another Barnard Castle bank has been branded bad news for Teesdale and a costly inconvenience for customers – especially the elderly.

Royal Bank of Scotland announced last week that the town branch of NatWest will close on May 31 next year.

The bank is one of 259 branches to be affected, which will result in a total of 680 job losses. This includes 62 RBS branches and 197 NatWest outlets.

The rise of online banking has been blamed for the decision and RBS bosses say they have seen a dramatic change in the way people bank over the past five years.

However, county councillor Richard Bell said: “It is very bad news for Teesdale. I have banked there for 37 years and the staff are great, so helpful.

“On a Monday the shops and pubs pay in their takings. How are you supposed to do that online? All the banks are deliberately running down their branches. If I had one pound for every time they’ve encouraged me to go online I’d be able to retire. I’ll be fighting this.”

Teesdale MP Helen Goodman, who was among the many who voiced their concerns at HSBC’s closure in the town in January, said: “This is very disappointing and a considerable costly inconvenience for many local people. The government should change the law to allow banks to share buildings and cut costs, rather than disadvantage the public.”

Customers have also been left disappointed by the news.

Anne Close said: “I think it’s disgusting. Even though I can internet bank I do like to get to know the staff at my local branch.

“My mother, however, is in her eighties and has no internet and it’s hard for her to get to Darlington. It’s people like my mother who I feel sorry for as it’s easy to say ‘go to Darlington’ but as you get older it does become harder to get around.”

Similarly Michelle Foster added: “I’m devastated, especially for those older people who use this bank all the time – it’s very sad news.”

Other affected branches include Richmond, Newton Aycliffe and Ferryhill.

Robert Stenlake, treasurer at the town’s St Mary’s Church, said members of the congregation had already met Ms Goodman to raise their objections. He said the church banks with NatWest and the closure would make dealing with the money from collections difficult.

He said: “Sometimes during funerals we can receive hundreds of pounds in cash. We could move to the Post Office but can you imagine taking that amount of money over in change to the counter? Barclays is still here but for how long?”

However, RBS say only 69 customers visit the Teesdale branch each week and transactions in the branch have reduced by 33 per cent since 2012.

Bank bosses say that 86 per cent of dale customers are already banking in other ways locally and their figures show that 59 per cent of Barnard Castle customers are now choosing to bank digitally on a regular basis instead.

An RBS spokesperson said: “The way people bank with us has changed radically over the last few years.

“Since 2014, the number of customers using our branches across the UK has fallen by 40 per cent. During the same period mobile transactions have increased by 73 per cent

“ In the first half of 2017, there were 1.1 billion mobile and online transactions carried out by our customers, an increase of 41 per cent since 2014. Over five million customers now use our mobile banking app and one in five only bank with us digitally.”

The RBS spokesperson added: “We are communicating with our customers affected by the closure and proactively contacting vulnerable customers and regular branch users.

“We have extended the time between announcing our decision and the branch closure to six months. This has been done so that we can ensure our customers have enough time to consider the right banking options for them and to give us time to support them one-to-one during the transition.”

In the meantime, NatWest staff will be on-hand in branch to support customers with training and support needed to use mobile or online banking.

A community banker is one of the alternative ways being touted. They aim to replicate services in the community and provide customers with personal assistance in accessing “the right banking options for their needs”. Appointments will be held in community locations or at people’s homes.

NatWest also have a national agreement with the Post Office to provide a range of banking services including paying in, withdrawing cash and checking balances. Although the nearest Natwest branch will be 14 miles away in Bishop Auckland, these limited services will be available at the Post Office, in Galgate, or in Cotherstone and Bowes.