South Devon MP Caroline Voaden has expressed her deep disappointment following LINK’s decision to deny Totnes a banking hub once again.

Last September, Lloyds announced plans to close its Totnes branch, leaving the town without access to banking services.

Shortly after this announcement, Ms Voaden submitted a cash access review to LINK, a public body who decide if an area requires a banking hub.

The expectation was that LINK would agree banking services in Totnes would be lacking once Lloyds closed. However, citing free-to-use ATMs and the Post Office, as well as nearby services in Brixham, Dartmouth and Paignton, LINK deemed Totnes services to be adequate.

This is despite many local businesses and vulnerable residents raising the alarm about the consequences of Totnes losing access to banking services.

Ms Voaden complained to LINK to reconsider. While they did so, the South Devon MP broadened her campaign, launching a petition, which attracted over 1,200 signatures, and appealing for the government to intervene.

In response to her question in October, the Prime Minister said that banking hubs can be rolled out to any area needing one and promised the South Devon MP a meeting with the relevant Minister at the Treasury.

At the subsequent meeting, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury agreed with Ms Voaden that the current criteria for granting a banking hub, which looks solely at access to cash, is too narrow, though she noted she had no power to overturn LINK’s decision.

In September 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority introduced its new access to cash regime, which tightened the rules for granting a banking hub. These rules did not apply when Dartmouth and Brixham secured their banking hubs.

Last week, after Lloyds Totnes had shut its doors, LINK announced the outcome of its review, finding again that the town does not require a banking hub, citing the availability of services elsewhere and their judgement that Totnes has acceptable access to cash.

According to the South Devon MP, this decision has “no grounding in the lived realities of residents, businesses and the wider rural community”. Ms Voaden will now push the government to expand the criteria used to grant a banking hub, so areas like Totnes that evidently need one qualify.

Caroline Voaden said: “I am deeply disappointed with LINK’s decision. Their response to my appeal did not adequately reflect the issues I raised, nor the lived realities of residents, businesses and the wider rural community that relies on Totnes.

“But while it is tempting to criticise LINK, their decision is symptomatic of years of successive governments turning a blind eye to the impact of such closures on rural communities. How many Ministers have missed the chance to act when banking services in rural areas like ours disappeared?

“While this is a setback for Totnes, it is not the end of my campaign. I will be pushing the government to urgently review the criteria used to grant a banking hub. The current focus just on access to cash is far too narrow, and will lead to more cases where places that need banking services, like Totnes, are denied because they don’t tick the right box. There is more to a bank than cash - and it's time the legislation reflected that.”