Kington's aim to establish a banking hub has been rejected for a second time, but an appeal has already been submitted.

The town’s postmaster Tim Allen has been lobbying for a bank hub to be set up at the RidgeBank Art Space at 1 High Street.

The hub could be managed by Tim and it would be permanently staffed Monday to Friday by post office employees and employees from the five major banks on a rota basis, so customers could speak face-to-face with someone from their bank.

The hubs are funded by the nine major banks as a low cost banking solution. The bank hub would be offering a ‘contemporary version’ of a traditional bank and it would be visited by representatives of various banks to discuss personal banking matters with customers.

But the town council was recently told that Link have rejected Kington’s application for a banking hub for the second time.

Tim Allen said he was disappointed by the recent rejection after he and Marion Evans had put together a comprehensive paper demonstrating to Link why Kington should be looked at for a hub.

“We have already appealed their decision, which is thin on rejection detail, and references only partial population data and does not address the data we provided of analysis of our area and our community.

“Many people signed the petition we ran at Kington Post Office which enabled us to say with certainty that Kington Ward is not just a town and immediate villages of 3,650 residents; it serves as an economic, social, educational and medical hub for over 11,000 people from 60 surrounding communities. 

“We firmly believe that Kington embodies the type of community Cash Access UK (i.e. the government) aim to support.

“In our conclusion to the appeal letter we have said “Your rejection fails to address the evidence and arguments we carefully compiled to demonstrate Kington’s eligibility for a Banking Hub. It also does not explain how Kington scored against your criteria, leaving us confused and concerned about the fairness of the process.”

Mr Allen said they have respectfully asked that Link  reassess Kington’s application using the additional evidence provided and request any specific evidence they would like to see, to clarify how Kington scored against Link’s criteria and why the decision was made and commit to addressing the unique needs of rural communities like Kington’s in future assessments. 

He added: “A banking hub in Kington would not only support our predominantly analogue, cash-using population but also stimulate local businesses and strengthen the social fabric of our rural community. 

“We urge Link to reconsider this decision and ensure that highly rural areas in challenging geographical locations are not overlooked in favour of more accessible urban centres.”

He said he has to assume that the appeal will also be rejected but he feels that they should take the process as far as they can as there are seven other Marches and two Powys towns that are similar in population to Kington which will also fail to meet the banking hub criteria and therefore they may be able to gather support together.

Kington has the perfect location for a bank hub – at the Ridgebank , which was formerly The Kington and Radnorshire Bank established in 1808 as part of the North and South Wales Bank amalgamated with Midland Bank in 1908.

Meanwhile, Mr Allen said the Cash is King(ton) campaign, which launched at the end of the summer has gathered real support and he thanked businesses and local residents who are consciously using cash rather than card when they can

He said cash deposits at the Post Office have gone up significantly in the last year and the statistics it generates enables them to prove Kington does not fit the national trend and has a right to be considered on its merits as a community