A MEETING has been held between councillors and community representatives following an announcement that Sedgefield’s only bank would close this year.
Parish and county councillors from Sedgefield, Fishburn and the Trimdons attended the meeting at County Hall, in Durham, on Wednesday to discuss the closure of Barclays Bank in Sedgefield.
The meeting was called this week after Barclays Bank confirmed its branch, on Church View, would shut on Friday, May 11.
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Durham County Cllr John Robinson said: “Barclays Bank has agreed to meet a number of us. There will be a couple of county and parish councillors from Sedgefield, Fishburn and the Trimdons so the whole area is represented. We will put to them the impact (of the closure) on the area.”
Cllr Robinson added the group would seek evidence from the bank of its reasons for the planned closure, which include a reduction in counter transactions, more customers using other ways to bank and 229 people using the branch exclusively.
He said: “We believe it’s a very popular, busy branch but they say it isn’t.
“We want to know how they are going to help people to do internet banking and get them to work with us to mitigate the impact. Everybody recognises it’s not just Sedgefield - banks are closing everywhere.”