A SENIOR councillor has called on a high street bank to reconsider plans to axe two branches in Pendle.

If Barclays presses ahead with proposals to close their Nelson and Colne sites, it would leave them with only their location in Church Street, Barnoldswick, in the borough.

And customers would alternatively face a round-trip to Burnley for any face-to-face banking services in future.

Pendle has already faced the gradual closure of all HSBC, NatWest and Lloyds branches in recent years. TSB also only has one borough location - in Nelson.

Cllr Mohammed Iqbal, leader of the Labour group on Pendle Council, is a longstanding customer of the Barclays in Manchester Road, Nelson.

He is writing to their chief executive, Jes Staley, in a bid to get the banking giant to think again about the anticipated closures.

Cllr Iqbal, who is also a Lancashire county councillor for Brierfield and Nelson West, said: “I am very unhappy that Barclays , who occupy prominent sites in Nelson and Colne, and are extremely busy branches, are due to be closed over the next few months.

“As a regular user of the Nelson branch I know in what high regard local branches are held in and would urge these branches are not closed, affecting a lot of local people who will struggle to get to the Burnley branch .

“It is important local people also voice their opposition to these closures.”

The Nelson branch would close on June 7 and Colne’s on May 31.

A Barclays spokesman said: “The way customers undertake their banking is changing as people increasingly use online, telephone and mobile devices.

“At Barclays in Nelson and Colne, customer usage has continued to decline and over 40 cent of our customers now regularly use alternative branches, which is why we have taken the difficult decision to close them.

“We hope the availability of our other Barclays branches and access to services at the local Post Offices along with our range of digital channels will help to ease the transition for our customers.

“We urge any customer who is concerned about how to undertake their banking once the branch closes to contact us so that we can discuss alternative banking options.”