‘Don’t abandon us’: MP and councillors hit out at closure of Whitby’s last high street bank

Halifax has announced it will be closing its high street bank in Whitby in January 2025, following in the footsteps of Barclay’s which closed its Whitby branch last year.

This leaves Whitby without a high street bank amid warnings that locals are being left in “banking deserts”.

MP for Scarborough and Whitby, Sir Robert Goodwill said the bank’s closure was “very sad news”.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Sadly the advent of online banking, contactless payments and paying in cheques over the phone have dramatically reduced footfall at high street banks.

“Barclays have a banking hub and have face-to-face meetings at the library as I saw for myself recently.”

He added that “the Post Office offers banking facilities, fortunately”.

More than 40 per cent of banks in Scarborough and Whitby have closed since 2015 and nationally more than 5,791 bank branches have closed down in the same period.

Linda Wild, the chair of Whitby Town Council’s finance committee confirmed that the authority has been approached by Cash Access UK about setting up a banking hub in the town.

She said: “Our message to the financial sector is this: Don’t abandon Whitby. Join us in exploring creative ways to keep neighbourhood banking alive and accessible for all,”

Politicians have warned that despite a shift to online banking, not everyone can access those services

Coun Phil Trumper said that the Halifax closure “is quite surprising because there always seem to be people in that Halifax branch, so it’s disappointing that they are going.

“There is also a considerable demographic who don’t do internet banking and it will have a negative effect on those people, and I also don’t know what businesses are going to use for cash, it could affect them as well.

“Whitby has a population of more than 13,000 – we do still need a high street bank.”

The Whitby West division representative added: “We should be looking at a banking hub so people can access the services they need.

Councillors have also expressed concerns about the shifting of responsibility for banking services to other organisations such as the Post Office.

Coun Neil Swannick said he was “very disappointed” by the news but added that it was positive news that Link, the cash machine network, had “decided to provide a banking hub”.

“I will be happy to work with Link, Halifax and any of the other banks in Whitby to protect banking services for Whitby people and visitors to the town,” he said.

Coun Swannick added: Of course, I recognise that most people now use the internet for banking services, but there are many people who do not have internet access or are not computer savvy.

“Most likely many of these people have already dropped off the banks’ radar and are excluded from the services which should be available for everyone. A much larger group of people encounter regular problems dealing with bank computer systems and need a friendly human to help them.”

The Whitby Streonshalh division councillor added: “Handing all these responsibilities over to the Post Office is not good enough given the profits and bonuses being paid by banks to shareholders and senior staff.”