Yesterday I submitted a formal appeal to LINK, the cash access organisation, in which I urged it to reconsider its previous assessment of cash access and banking provision in Bitterne.
LINK, which determines where Banking Hubs are located, carried out an “Access to Cash” review in Bitterne last year after Lloyds Bank and Halifax announced that they would be closing their branches in the area. Its recommendation was that the area did not need a Banking Hub because of its proximity to the city centre.
I have told LINK in no uncertain terms that its assessment was materially flawed and that subsequent developments add even greater weight to the arguments for a Banking Hub. Here’s why:
- LINK’S claim that it takes 12 minutes by bus from Bitterne to the city centre is, as local residents will know, optimistic at best and also fails to consider that residents are travelling from beyond Bitterne to access banking services.
- LINK excluded over a dozen business on the western side of West End Road, which form part of the Bitterne district centre, from the assessment area and in doing so understated the number of businesses affected by the loss of local banking provision
- The wider landscape has changed since the Bitterne assessment was carried out. Lloyds Bank in Hedge end is due to close this month, removing an alternative location that many Bitterne users previously relied upon and materially affecting the very assumptions on which LINK’s assessment for Bitterne was made. LINK’s own assessment for Hedge End concluded that no new provision would be made.
- Crucially, LINK’s own Totton assessment demonstrates that Bitterne meets the same criteria that justified the provision of a Banking Hub elsewhere. In Totton, LINK identified a deficiency in local cash access and recommended a permanent Banking Hub to provide deposit, withdrawal and assisted services.
I strongly believe that, taken together, the inaccurate travel assumptions, exclusion of local businesses, the loss of alternative branches, and the clear precedent set in Totton demonstrate that LINK’s previous conclusion for Bitterne should be reconsidered. A Banking Hub would provide a fair, consistent and necessary response to the needs of Bitterne residents and businesses.
More evidence in support of a Bitterne Banking Hub, which includes feedback from more than 300 local residents and businesses who took the time to complete my survey, can be seen in the full submission which you can download here (PDF).
LINK has said that it will respond to this appeal within 12 weeks, so I’ll update you as soon as I have more news.
