Officers from the Link organisation were in Wokingham last week to assess whether they will support the establishment of a banking hub in the town.
A senior community assessment manager from Link outlined the basis for his visit to Wokingham.
He was welcomed by MP Clive Jones, Cllr Mark Ashwell, Wokingham Borough Council’s economic development executive, Wokingham town clerk Katy Huges, Sue Jackson, founder of the charity Wokingham in Need, and Lynn Forbes, former town councillor and town mayor – who has applied for a banking hub on behalf of the town.
Wokingham Today was also present, and delivered a selection of the hundreds of emails it has received in support of the hub.
After being provided with a background of the current situation in the town, the group walked around the town.
Stops included the Post Office inside WH Smiths, Characters, the former library in Denmark Street, Premier Inn, the Carnival Hub. the Turkish barber close to Elms Field, Brown Bag, Jay Printer, Phil’s Good Food, and onwards to Peach Place.
One elderly customer in Jay Printer highlighted his own issues when attempting to conduct face-to-face banking.
The team also stopped off at the Barclays banking pop-up in the Bradbury Centre, which was ironically closed for lunch.
During the visit, Sue Jackson highlighted how the lack of banks in Wokingham that accept cash payments is affecting the operation of her charity.
The Link representatives suggested that following their report, the application will be reviewed by a panel.
Lynn said: “Wokingham was quite busy during the visit last Wednesday, and we felt the town presented itself really well.”
Wokingham MP Clive Jones said:“I was delighted to meet with local campaigners and representatives from LINK to explain why Wokingham needs this banking hub.
“We had a very productive meeting across the town with figures in business (and their customers), as well as a chance to speak about charities and markets who are especially vulnerable to the decline of local banking and lack of cash locally.
“I feel really optimistic about the case we made, and we should hear back very soon about a first stage decision on whether Wokingham is getting a hub.”
He added he will have further meetings with LINK in Parliament, and will be pushing every step of the way to get this done.
He offered his thanks to Lynn Forbes for organising the meeting, and to Wokingham Today and its readers for championing the campaign.
Nick Quin, head of financial inclusion at Link, told Wokingham Today: “We’ve completed our visit to Wokingham and are now assessing the findings of that visit according to our established process and rules.
“We will publish the outcome of our assessment in due course.”
They indicated a decision could be made in as little as two weeks.
