GLUSBURN and Cross Hills Parish Council is concerned regarding the decision to close the Cross Hills branch of Skipton Building Society.

We as a parish council have not been informed of this decision but have been contacted by local residents.

This branch is very well used especially as it is the only banking facility in Cross Hills.

The elderly and vulnerable will be really affected by this closure as the nearest branch will be Silsden and there is not a direct bus route to Silsden from Cross Hills.

This branch serves, both Glusburn and Cross Hills and Sutton-in- Craven residents, when combined this population is huge. Cross Hills is the local service centre for the South Craven area and no doubt customers from Cowling, Lothersdale and Cononley use the branch.

The parish council would like the building society to reconsider this closure and the impact it will have on the local villages.

The numbers have probably dropped due to the building society been closed for many months post Covid and customers were faced with the door locked. People were seen trying to get into the building society when this was the case.

Judith Naylor

Parish clerk

Glusburn and Cross Hills Parish Council

 

In response, a Skipton Building Society spokesperson said:“The decision to close our Cross Hills branch was not taken lightly, and it’s a decision that is the outcome of a range of considerations.

"As seen elsewhere in the industry, we’ve seen reducing levels of customers choosing to transact in person in branch, and rising levels of customers choosing to interact with us in other ways, especially post-pandemic.

“At our Cross Hills branch specifically, the customer base using the branch is now very low relative to other branches, and our research shows that many of the customers who use the Cross Hills branch have also used another Skipton Building Society branch in the last 12 months – such as the branches in Skipton and Silsden.

"Additionally, our data shows that customers are interacting with us using other methods much more than they were, even excepting the changed behaviour during lockdown periods.”

The spokesperson added: “At the end of 2022, our Cross Hills branch was also part of a pilot in which we sought to optimise our resource by reducing hours the branch was open, and increasing the availability of branch colleagues on the phone.

"On closed days, or once the branch was closed for the day, colleagues also continued to work booked in-person appointments or phone calls inside the branch, a practice that is commonplace in other banks and building societies too.”