A campaign to save NatWest services in Halstead has been supported by residents and councillors alike.

The bank has announced that it will be closing its branch in the High Street in March after the number of transactions taking place there dropped by 15 per cent.

This led to the owner of Steve’s Hardware, Steve Kirby, who is councillor for Halstead’s St Andrews Ward, to appeal for people to send him their views on why the branch should not be closed so he could lobby for change.

He will take opposition letters to a meeting on December 29 with the CEO of 16 NatWest branches across Essex and Suffolk, where he will make a case for the Halstead branch to remain open or for some services to remain.

Since launching his campaign last week, Mr Kirby has received letters of support from residents and words of encouragement from shoppers.

He said: “I have had lots of letters from residents and customers and there have been lots of comments from people coming into the shop, so I have asked them to write in to me.

See this week's Halstead Gazette for the full story.