Axed banks issue raised in Welsh Assembly

* Demo tomorrow: the HSBC bank in Bridge Street. 

Members of the Welsh Assembly are to be updated on the closure of three HSBC bank branches, including the one in Llangollen, according to a Cabinet Minister.

In the Senedd, North Wales Conservative AM Mark Isherwood called for a government statement on the issue, which has sparked anger in the town and will be the subject of a demonstration outside the Bridge Street bank tomorrow (Thursday) at 12 noon.

Addressing Lesley Griffiths, Minister for Local Government and Government Business and AM for Wrexham, he said: "I wish to raise a matter that I know that you, personally, will be concerned about, namely the announcement by HSBC that it is closing its Llangollen, Conwy and Beaumaris branches.

"What engagement is the Welsh Government having, could have, or will have, with the bank regarding this?

 

"Widespread concerns have been raised by constituents, business constituents and individual customers regarding the impact this will have on those areas, on themselves, the wellbeing of the businesses in their towns, on their communities, but also on the many thousands of tourists who visit the area.

 

"They are afraid that rural areas are taking the brunt, that this is not in the interest of customers and that it is a short-sighted business decision. They believe that we need to take a longer term, truly customer-focused approach."

 

Ms Griffiths replied: "In relation to your concerns about the closure of HSBC branches - and you referred to Llangollen in my colleague Ken Skates’s constituency - the Minister for Economy, Science and Transport has discussions with all banks and will update the Assembly in due course."

KLS chair has more thoughts on HSBC bank closure

Martin Crumpton, chair of Keep Llangollen Speecial (KLS) has written this piece expressing his views on the issue of the closure of the town's HSBC Bank:  

In the run-up to Christmas, it’s scrag-end of grants and sponsorship for us, but filet mignon for the banks.

We could cock a snook at HSBC over their inflexible plans to close their Llangollen branch, and switch our accounts to Barclays.

Barclays, having announced 1,700  job cuts and undisclosed branch closures, are likely to be next.

If they are, we could cock another snook at them and switch to NatWest.

However, if RBS, in the guise of NatWest follows suit as they always do, we’ll be left bereft of snooks and nobody to cock them at anyway.

We genuinely find their cut-backs difficult to swallow. What other industry sector cuts back in a time of banking plenty? Perhaps they’re making a pre-emptive strike in advance of all the talk of banking levies and caps on bonuses?

KLS has put pressure on the Welsh Government and we will watch with interest. We are also pursuing alternative, ethical banking providers.

We don’t have to take this lying down.

The Chamber of Trade and Tourism has been working hard on this issue too, which is very much appreciated by all.

In support of the Chamber, KLS has agreed to ask our members to attend their PR exercise tomorrow, the main event being at noon, and we ask everyone to do so – not to heckle the staff but to show HSBC’s faceless hierarchy that we value the bank’s presence and maybe show them how counter-productive their decision is.

On a much happier note, and despite watching snow fall as I write this, the one, true Father Christmas is getting his elves to work overtime to provide everything we need in Llangollen’s local shops.

The fake Santas in the large supermarkets is more likely to steal presents from you by bogus offers and not-very-special Special Offers, such as Buy One, Waste One Free.

Tell your friends and neighbours that the next Buy Local Day (Friday 13^th December) is where the genuine Christmas Spirit begins!

chair@keepllangollenspecial.org.uk

Closure decision is "final" says Llan bank boss

The recently announced decision by bosses at HSBC to close the Llangollen branch is final.
That is the clear message from Rachel K Thomas, regional director, retail banking & wealth management, South West & Wales, in an email to David Davies, chair of Llangollen Chamber of Trade and Tourism.

Earlier this week, Mr Davies wrote to her requesting an urgent meeting to discuss the closure.

But in her emailed reply, which came through earlier today (Tuesday) she declines the request and makes it clear that the closure, which has sparked a wave anger in the town, will go ahead.

The email reads in full: 

Dear Mr Davies

Thank you for your recent email regarding the closure of Llangollen Branch.  

We are always reluctant to close branches and will only make a decision to do so after a careful and rigorous review of the sustainability of the branch. This takes into consideration the branch’s performance over the last five years and an in depth analysis of internal and external data to understand branch use and the local demographics. We will also consider whether there are other measures we can take to improve the viability of the branch, such as reducing opening hours. Unfortunately, in the case of Ll angollen branch, the level of business is not sufficient to justify the branch's continued operation and we have taken the decision to close the branch.

Whilst we fully understand the depth of feeling about our decision to close this branch, the decision is final. We therefore believe that our time is best spent providing tailored one to one support to our Llangollen customers who may have problems accessing banking facilities and ensuring that their needs are catered for in the best way possible. As a result, I must regretfully decline your invitation to a public meeting.

Kind regards

Rachel K Thomas

Regional Director, Retail Banking & Wealth Management, South West & Wales Region, HSBC Bank PLC.

* This Thursday, at 12noon, the chamber is going ahead with a formal protest outside the bank in Bridge Street and is inviting as many local people as possible to take part.

Skates lashes "cruel" bedroom tax

CLWYD South Assembly Member Ken Skates has condemned the UK Government after new figures revealed more than 600 households across Denbighshire have been hit by its ‘cruel’ bedroom tax. 

 

Labour AM Mr Skates described the Tory-led Westminster coalition as ‘heartless’ after data from the Department of Work and Pensions showed the number of homes left worse off since the benefit cuts were imposed in April. 

 

He said: “I had grave concerns as soon as these cruel plans to penalise many hard-working families on modest incomes were announced by the Conservatives, and despite numerous warnings from welfare charities about the impact the bedroom tax would have the heartless UK Government has repeatedly refused to listen. 

 

 “The bedroom tax has already hit 651 in Denbighshire according to the most up-to-date DWP figures, among them many of my constituents who were struggling to make ends meet before it was introduced and who are now in dire straits. 

 

“Across Wales almost 34,000 homes are out of pocket thanks to this Tory-led policy. Families are falling behind on rent and are suffering up and down the country – this attack on people’s livings standards is having disastrous consequences.” 

 

* The most up to date figures from the Department of Work and Pensions can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/number-of-housing-benefit-claimants-and-average-weekly-spare-room-subsi

Gracie-Ann cooks up healthy meal win

* Gracie Ann Parker, school cook Helen Fiskin and Caron Jones, Healthy Schools Coordinator at Ysgol Rhewl, with some of the other pupils.

During October 2013, Hamper Llangollen (Llangollen Food Festival) in partnership with the Denbighshire School Meals Service and Denbighshire Healthy Schools ran a competition for primary school pupils to design a healthy and balanced meal using at least two fruit or vegetables and identifying the key food groups.

The winning pupil was Gracie-Ann Parker from Ysgol Rhewl.

Gracie won the pleasure of having school meals for one week.  

Helen Fiskin, the school cook, used Gracie’s recipe to prepare a healthy and nutritionally balanced lunch for Gracie and the pupils at Ysgol Rhewl.

Gracie also had the opportunity to cook on stage with Dai Chef at the Llangollen Food Festival.  

County introduces Christmas free parking

Denbighshire County Council is re-introducing a parking initiative to support town centres and villages in the run up to Christmas.

From November 21 until December 31, all of the Council’s public car parks will be free after 3pm each day.

Councillor David Smith, Cabinet Lead Member for Environment, said: “We feel this is a vitally important initiative in the run up to Christmas and we hope that our local economy will benefit from such a scheme.

“Our towns and villages have a wealth of smaller, independent retailers and we are encouraging people to shop locally and support the local traders. By offering free parking after 3pm, we hope that it will encourage residents and visitors to come into our communities and sample the wealth of goods available in the run up to the festive season”.

Woman airlifted to hospital

A woman with leg injuries was airlifted to hospital by helicopter following an incident at Llantysilio earlier today.

A Welsh Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We were called at 11.12am (Monday) to an incident in Llantysilio, near Llangollen.

 

“We sent an emergency ambulance, an ambulance officer and the Helimed helicopter to the scene, and a woman with leg injuries was flown to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd.”

More on this story has just been posted on the Daily Post website at http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/woman-hurt-driving-buggy-llangollen-6315746