Barclays Bank are refusing to back track on their plans to close their Abergele branch despite strong opposition from Clwyd West AM Darren Millar and the local community.

The bank announced last month that it plans to close on December 15th and is citing “low and falling level of transactions at the branch” for the closure.

Yesterday Darren met with Raj Dhaliwal, Barclays Community Banking Manager for North Wales and Shropshire the bank, in his Assembly office to express local concern.

Darren said:

“Barclays is the last bank in the town and closing it would be a major blow to the community.

“Many constituents have contacted me to express their concern and yesterday I met with Barclays to tell them of the strong opposition to their plans.

“But they are refusing to back track on their proposals in spite of my concerns over the loss of the only branch in the town, the projected housing growth in the Abergele area, the age profile of the local population and the impact that the decision will have on staff.

“I am extremely disappointed that they will not take these points on board and reconsider. Abergele lost HSBC last year and Yorkshire Building Society earlier this year, not having one local banking branch in the town is a major loss.

“It's time for the UK Government to consider changing the law to require the big banks to have minimum access requirements for their branch networks."