Councillors have agreed to request that a banking hub be opened in Stokesley after the town was left without any bank branches.
Members of the Richmond area committee voted unanimously to submit an application for an outlet to Link, which works with banks to operate the hubs.
Asking the committee to support a proposal to apply for a hub in his town, Stokesley councillor Bryn Griffiths said: “Our last bank branch closed in Stokesley this summer.
“We have a Post Office in the back of the Coop, which has been advertising cash availability which is fine, but the residents tell me the ATMs are often empty since the last bank has closed.
“But there’s more to banking than just ATMs, putting cash in and cash out. I think we need to give consideration to the other services that they provide in a bank.”
The meeting heard banking hubs already operated in Richmond, Knaresborough, Filey and Whitby.
Richmond councillor Stuart Parsons supported the proposal for the Stokesley hub.
But he said: “You have five days when the hub is open and you have a number of banks who will buy a day in the hub and others who won’t.
“It’s all very well if your bank banks with the hub, but if it doesn’t, you’re better off still going to the post office.”
Cllr Parsons added: “The reason Richmond got their banking hub so quickly was because of the population in Catterick Garrison.
“The one and only bank that was on the garrison, Lloyds, closed down so the banking hub saw themselves with a population of 30,000 people that they could service.”
Committee chair Yvonne Peacock added: “There’s no question that in some ways we do suffer from not having our local banks. I think that’s pretty straightforward. It’s documents and the important things you have to deal with.
“There’s no question that you are very fortunate though if you have a Post Office — that makes a great deal of difference, especially to businesses.”
Cllr Peacock said Barclays left a cash machine when it closed its branch in the Wensleydale town of Hawes.
But she noted that the building housing the ATM was not owned by Barclays and she was concerned how long the machine would remain.
The meeting heard that the council would apply to Link, which would assess whether the town needed a banking hub.
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