Plans to vacate bank and remove cash machine

A North Herefordshire town will lose a cash machine along with the bank that houses it next month.

Barclay’s Bank on The Homend, within Ledbury’s conservation area, will close in a fortnight’s time on October 5.

The 18th-century two-storey brick building still has its original staircase inside, though the ground-floor frontage is modern. Being grade II listed, planning permission must be given before internal or external changes are made to it.

The banking giant now wants permission to remove the external cash machine along with the signage, a letterbox and CCTV camera, and to replace the windows. It also plans to remove all internal counters and furniture.

The building’s original features will not be affected by the plans, which are “intended to return it to pre-Barclays occupation as much as it is possible preserving the listed building status”, the application says.

This will “allow the building to evolve and maintain the possibility of new uses or layouts”, it adds.

The move leaves Ledbury with just one bank, the TSB on the other side of the Homend, which is also grade II-listed.

Comments on the application, numbered 222807, can be made until October 13.