South Leicestershire MP, Alberto Costa, has said he is ‘extremely disappointed’ at the decision from Nationwide Building Society to close their branch in Blaby on 24th November later this year.
Alberto was informed by Nationwide that the village’s branch will be closing due to a steep decline in footfall, with the building society stating that less 3% of the branch’s members use the services at Blaby regularly.
Nationwide’s announcement to close their branch in Blaby comes just over a month after Lloyds Bank had announced their intention to close their branch in Lutterworth, with Mr Costa expressing concerns about the lack of banking services in rural areas.
The MP has said that he will now be arranging an urgent meeting with Nationwide to discuss their reasoning for the branch closure and to ask what measures they will put in place to assist local people following the closure.
Alberto said, “I am extremely disappointed to hear of Nationwide’s plans to close their branch in Blaby. This closure comes very quickly after the recent announcement from Lloyds to close their branch in Lutterworth; and again, this highlights the unacceptable lack of services the major banks are offering their customers, and especially my constituents, living in rural areas. I hope to meet with Nationwide very soon to discuss their reasoning for closing the branch in Blaby, but also to ask what assistance they will be providing to my constituents to help with the transition of the closure”.
Alberto added, “I understand that footfall has declined since the Covid pandemic for many banks and building societies, but it is not good enough for my constituents who may not wish to travel to use in-person service and who may not feel comfortable using internet banking. Given the recent raft of bank and building society closures across the country, I will be taking this matter up with the new Prime Minister and Chancellor and do hope to hold a debate on rural banking services later this year to highlight the concerns of my constituents”.
