PLANS will be discussed later this month for a potential community banking hub in the Towy Valley.

Jonathan Edwards, MP for Carmarthen East & Dinefwr, will be meeting with financial company LINK following the Easter period to make the case for a banking hub in Llandeilo.

The move comes after the recent announcement that Barclays would be closing its branch in the town later this year – leaving the town without a bank.

A LINK banking hub would be a shared banking space that works similar to a traditional bank branch, but is available to customers of all the main banks.

Mr Edwards said: “I am very grateful to LINK representatives for agreeing to meet with me to discuss options for the community following this latest blow.

“I have received many messages from concerned constituents, and it is vital that rural areas are not left behind as traditional banks centralise services.

“Meeting and lobbying an individual bank once it has made up its mind regarding closing a branch is futile. Instead, we need to be working on alternative models.

“Considering all the bank closures in the Tywi Valley in recent years it seems the perfect location for a community banking hub, and I will be making the case vigorously in my meeting with LINK.”

The Llandeilo branch of Barclays is one of more than 50 across the UK that will be closing this year, with the branch closing its doors for the final time on June 23.

Barclays has said that just 12 people regularly use the branch as their only way of banking, stating that 86 per cent of users are also using the app.

Mr Edwards said: “Barclays is the last bank in Llandeilo and its closure will have a massive effect on the rural community.

"Every town should have at least one functioning bank and I am deeply disappointed by this announcement.

“I have consistently argued for a different financial model to replace commercial banking. We need an alternative system based on community banks and strong credit unions rooted in their communities to challenge traditional banks.

“It is time that the UK and Welsh governments think of innovative solutions to maintain banking services in rural communities. The idea of ‘banking hubs’ has been long talked about but with no meaningful action to date.

“The traditional commercial banking model has failed our communities and vulnerable residents continue to suffer through lack of innovative thinking from government.”

Some 257 bank branches will shut their doors for the final time this year according to data from LINK, the UK's largest cash machine network.

Ammanford, Cross Hands and Tumble have also recently lost or will lose banks later this year.