PARISH councillors have voted to open up a new bank account, after a poor experience at Barclays.

South Swindon Parish Council currently holds £1million in its Barclays accounts.

The parish clerk, who mooted a move from Barclays to Metro Bank, told councillors: “It all really came about because I went into Barclays and I just received such terrible service while I was.

“I just decided to have a look at what the new bank on the corner was offering and I was actually really impressed. I went in there, they served me straight away, a lady came, she said she’d dealt with these sort of accounts before and she knew what kind of accounts we were interested in.

“She got all the information out the drawer and handed it to me there and then.

“If you look at it, it’s not a bad deal. Interest rates they are offering if we wanted to put some money aside.”

Backing the decision to invest in Metro Bank, parish chairman Chris Watts said: It should be noted they are one of the more ethical banks, up there with Nationwide.”

Coun Steve Allsopp added: “I think we should seriously consider opening an account and see what we would want to put into it.”

Others cited a recent audit report that recommended the parish diversify its accounts.

A hold-up in the transfer of responsibilities from the borough to parish councils has resulted in a huge £1m fund left in the parish Barclays account. At the end of the last financial year the parish also held £320,000 in a Nationwide savings account.

Auditors Lightatouch wrote in their report: “The parish council continues to hold £1m in its Barclays Bank current account, which is a risk to the parish council as if banking institutions cannot meet their obligation to repay investors’ money then compensation from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme is limited to £85,000.”

They recommended: “The parish council should continue to review its investment strategy to ensure that it maximises its return on investments, but should also be mindful of spreading its investment portfolio to minimise the risk of loss so it can recover the maximum amounts under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.”

Auditors were also concerned about the way cash and cheques were handled by the parish, with the clerk forced to take home council cash and cheques for lack of a safe at its Broadgreen Community Centre base.

They advised a safe was bought: “This will relieve the parish clerk from taking all the cash and cheque income received home with her each day before it is taken to the bank.”

When councillors on the parish’s finance committee questioned this, the clerk advised the purchase of a safe was a top priority.

Coun Steve Allsopp responded: “That reassures me that we are not putting an employee at safe. I do hope we can move as speedily as possible to get a relatively inexpensive safe.”