ANTONIO Horta-Osorio, the managing director of Lloyds Bank, is celebrating a £11.5 million pay and benefits package this year.

His senior colleagues, although no doubt disgruntled at having to share a mere £30 million bonus package, will nevertheless be able to afford the odd glass of celebratory wine.

Those who won’t be celebrating are the residents and businesses of Upton-upon-Severn who have been told by Lloyds Bank, without any warning or consultation, that the last remaining bank in the town, which hosts the last remaining cash machine, is reducing its opening hours to five hours a day on three days a week, raising fears about the long-term future of the branch.

In the bank’s Responsible Business Report published on March 3, 2014, Mr Horta-Osorio says “we have made a firm commitment not to close a branch if we are the only option for customers in a local community.”

This ‘firm commitment’ lasted exactly eight months until October 2014 when the pledge was withdrawn. Can we trust anything bankers say?

A local spokesman for the bank is reported by the Malvern Gazette to have said “the revised opening times reflect customer demand”.

Well, we who live in Upton would like to know who these customers are who have demanded a reduction in banking services.

We don’t believe they exist. We think that the bank is serving its own interests and that it couldn’t give tuppence about the interests of our town, its residents and businesses.

Mr Horta-Osario needs to understand that the existence of a bank and ready access to money from a cash machine is essential for a tourist centre such as Upton-upon-Severn, which has suffered badly during the recent recession and which has worked hard to recover.

Throughout the year, but especially during festivals, visitors need to be able to draw out cash to spend on the town’s amenities and thus to support the local economy.

Lloyds Bank's pledge “to invest in communities to help them prosper and grow” will be put to the test in Upton over the coming months and years.

We need to know that the bank and a properly stocked cash machine will remain in Upton for many years to come and that this is not just another empty promise.

Les Roberts

Upton-upon-Severn town councillor