MORE than one in four UK bank branches - or 26 per cent - have disappeared from communities in the last five years.

All over the UK people are coming to terms with the fact that their towns and villages will no longer be served by a local bank branch, forcing them to rely on online services or a local Post Office.

Campaigners argue that losing a bank branch can be debilitating for communities and groups like the Federation of Small Businesses want greater consideration to be taken whenever a branch is closed.

However, banks say the costs of running branches cannot be maintained if people are not using them.

Across Tynedale and Ponteland, a total of eight banks have made the hit list since 2015.

Alston lost its branches of HSBC and Barclays; Bellingham lost Lloyds and Barclays; Ponteland lost its branch of HSBC; Lloyds in Corbridge closed in March and the NatWest branch in Hexham closed just last month.

The issue reared its head again last week when Barclays announced it was to close its branch in Corbridge in November - leaving the busy community and tourist hub without a bank or a 24-hour cash machine.

Residents and business owners reacted with shock while county councillor, Nick Oliver, has pledged to do all he can to urge officials to reconsider.

Barclays said that figures suggest only 41 regular customers use the Corbridge branch exclusively for their banking.

And the number of weekly counter transactions carried out by both business and personal account holders has fallen by 11 per cent in the last year alone.

In a “reasons for closure” booklet issued by Barclays, customers from the Corbridge branch are advised to use the branches in Hexham, Prudhoe and Consett as alternatives, as well as the services available at Corbridge village post office.

But is it enough?

An industry-wide agreement between the main high street banks, with support from the Government, sets out guidelines to help ensure communities have access to alternative facilities following bank closures.

Which is why the closure of Lloyds in Bellingham was followed by visits from one of a fleet of mobile banks, designed to reach out to customers in rural communities.

And NatWest chose to introduce a community banker for two days every week following the branch closure in Hexham. Scott McLaren is on hand to help customers with online banking to financial health checks.

Hexham’s MP, Guy Opperman said: “I am disappointed to see yet another bank leave our high street; but this only further strengthens both the need for the Tynedale Community Bank, that we have set up these last 18 months, and the importance of local people supporting the bank either with their savings or by coming to us for loans.”

The popularity of the community bank, which was formed to provide a community-focused alternative to high street banking, continues to grow.

It began operating in November 2015 and grew successfully with more than 160 members and deposits exceeding £250,000.

Over the last few months the organisaton has joined forces with the long-established Credit Union South East Northumberland (CUSEN), which has been active for more than 20 years.

The combined entity is now known as Northumberland Community Bank and will operate across the county, supported by a small number of professional staff and a large group of volunteers and supporters

Co-founder of the Tynedale Community Bank, Lauren Langton said: “We are very open to working with other organisations and have just had a real boost from Northumberland County Council.

“They’ll be working with us as a key strategic partner to allow our members to pay into their savings or loans at the nine customer information centres they have across the county.

“Now, that’s a wonderful starter for ten for us, and we’re very open to developing others things.”

Lauren added that she hoped libraries and post offices may even become access points for the community bank in the future.

The bank has also teamed up with local organisations, including Hexham Job Centre and Karbon Homes (formerly Isos), to make use of office space for customer meetings.

“The beauty about the service we offer is that it offers much more flexibility and, although we haven’t got branches as such, we take a really back to basic approach to customer service and responsible lending,” said Lauren.

“It’s about supporting our members to form good saving and spending habits.”

The new combined Northumberland Community Bank now has a total of 1,000 members with approximately £350,000 on deposit and a loan book of around £200,000.

Former Greggs chief executive, Sir Michael Darrington, and CEO of Calvert Trust Kielder, Peter Cockerill, are among those on the board.