Nusrat Ghani, MP for Sussex Weald, has today, 9th March 2026, submitted an appeal against LINK’s assessment that concluded that Crowborough doesn’t require a banking hub.
LINK is the organisation responsible for making assessments and recommending where banking hubs be set up in specific town or villages. The onus then falls on Cash Access UK, working in collaboration with the high street banks and the Post Office to deliver the hub itself.
In their assessment published on 11th February 2026, after Lloyds announced that they will be closing their Crowborough branch in June this year, LINK concluded that they believe that Crowborough will have adequate cash facilities even once Lloyds, which is the last remaining bank on Crowborough high street, closes.
Since being informed about Lloyd’s closure, Nusrat set up a petition for local residents to share their views on the impact this will have and has been working closely with Crowborough Town Council Mayor, Cllr Natalie Whittle, and Crowborough Chamber of Commerce on formulating the appeal.
Within the appeal Nusrat challenged LINK’s assumption that there are only 66 business on the high street with cash needs, highlighting their inability to factor Jarvis Brook retailers into their assessment.
Over the last number of weeks Nusrat has also met with Cash Access UK, as well as LINK in an effort to find out why LINK’s original assessment decided that Crowborough had adequate cash facilities.
Now that the appeal has been formally submitted, LINK will be required to undertake a reassessment of the local needs. This will include looking again at the number of business which rely on cash access, and the ATM access which may be available to the general public.
Nusrat Ghani said: “Ever since Lloyds announced that they would be closing their branch, I have been inundated with emails letting me know how this will impact the daily lives of Crowborough residents.
As soon as I heard about the news, I launched my survey which received hundreds of useful responses that helped me put the case forward to LINK. I am grateful to everybody submitted a response on how this decision will impact them personally.
By working closely with the Crowborough Town Council Mayor, Natalie Whittle, and the Crowborough Chamber of Commerce, I reflected the needs and feelings of local residents and businesses in my appeal and now it has been submitted, the onus is on LINK to better assess the needs of our community and reconsider their decision. I will update residents as soon as I have had a response.”
