Alan Bennett, of Station Road, Loddiswell, writes:

I wonder whether those expressing condemnation of Lloyds Bank’s decision to

close its less-profitable rural ­branches may be at risk of being considered somewhat naive.

During the 30 or so years that I have known and loved the South Hams, I have witnessed a noticeable change in the retail landscape, with mainstream shops replaced by those ­catering to the seasonal tourist market, such as expensive clothes shops and cafes. Salcombe lost its HSBC branch to be replaced by a cafe a couple of years ago, so Lloyds Bank’s decision to close its Salcombe branch should not come as a surprise.

In Loddiswell we rely on our post office for banking services, such as deposits for the parish church’s Lloyds Bank account through the post office’s national commercial relationship with Lloyds Bank.

However, we understand that our post office is facing ­closure as part of the Post Office’s national plan of ­rationalisation of its ­‘less-profitable’ – my interpretation – branches.

Archbishop Wellby instigated a ‘Renewal & Reform’ ­programme last year ‘to reverse the decline of the Church of England so that we become a growing church’.

However, this apparently includes ‘diverting funds away from struggling rural parishes – traditionally its backbone – to new evangelical churches in city centres’. As our parish church struggles to ­survive, it would seem that we too face closures, and the question is: which will go first, Loddiswell’s post office or Loddiswell’s parish church?

The reality is that we live in one of the most beautiful parts of the UK, with an associated low level of population exacerbated by a significant level of second/holiday homes, which means we do not always ­represent an economic proposition for mainstream business.

An alternative already adopted by parts of the UK telecommunications industry is differential pricing. This means paying more in rural areas, which the affluent minority would not notice, but the majority of us could not ­necessarily afford.

Lloyds has offered a mobile banking service as a compromise, and with the likely continuing closure of village post offices, this offer would seem to be a priority for any negotiations between Lloyds Bank and the Chamber of Commerce about future banking services in our community.