THE closure of Burnham-on-Sea’s NatWest branch will be a ‘blow’ for the town, it has been claimed.

Both the Chamber of Trade and Burnham MP James Heappey hit out at the banking giant’s announcement - which will see a total of five branches across Somerset shutting this October.

Alex Turco, vice chairman of Burnham-on-Sea Chamber of Trade, described plans to close the Regent Street branch on October 10 as a ‘blow’ to Burnham town centre, especially so soon after the closure of HSBC in the town last October.

“The Chamber is extremely disappointed by NatWest’s decision so soon after HSBC’s closure.

“Whilst accepting that banking trends are changing, face to face access to financial services for businesses and consumers remains highly important.

“The Chamber calls on NatWest to review this decision and on Nationwide, Lloyds and Barclays to affirm their commitment to Burnham-on-Sea.”

NatWest informed customers of the closure in a letter sent out on March 24 and said the number of transactions done in the Burnham branch has declined by 26 percent.

A spokesperson for NatWest said: “We have a national agreement with the Post Office to provide our customers with a range of banking services.

“Customers can pay money in, take money out, check balances and business customers can get coinage.”

Burnham-on-Sea’s MP James Heappey has also reacted angrily to the news and said the elderly community in Burnham-on-Sea is likely to lose out the most.

He said: “I was angry and frustrated to hear that NatWest have decided to close their branches in Cheddar and Burnham-on-Sea.

“NatWest are failing to recognise two important factors.

“Firstly, there are many areas served by the branches in Burnham and Cheddar where broadband connections are poor and online banking less attractive than it is to those with better connections elsewhere.

“Secondly, there is a large elderly community in both places amongst whom the remaining branch users will be disproportionately concentrated. Digital exclusion is becoming a real challenge as it affects the elderly and vulnerable the most.

“I’m disappointed they’ve abandoned that position and I hope that their customers in the Cheddar and Burnham area will now abandon them.

“There are other banks in Cheddar and Burnham.

“It is important that residents who value the use of a branch switch their accounts to those that remain so that those banks have commercially viable branches that escape any further branch closure programmes.

“I will continue my campaign over access to banking as well as seeking assurances from NatWest over the future of those whose jobs will be affected by these unfortunate branch closures.”

Residents have also reacted to the news and agree with the Burnham-on-Sea MP’s comments that elderly residents will be hit the hardest by the closure.

Jo- Anne Crocker said: “This is ridiculous.

“I am fuming.

“Every time I go in there aren’t even enough staff to serve the amount of customers going in.

“They ought to be ashamed.”

Jackie Carroll said: “In a town where many are elderly how do they expect them to get on board the digital train?

“It seems that Burnham is a mainly elderly area and so they will lose out with the banks cutting costs.

“Old people don’t know how to use smart phones or tablets so they are most hit.”