PLANS to withdraw banking facilities from two Lake District towns were confirmed this week, dealing rural communities "another blow".

The Windermere and Ambleside-based Halifax Property Services, which are agencies for The Halifax Building Society, are losing their counter bank service at the end of March.

A Halifax spokesman said the move, which has triggered alarm among councillors, had been a difficult decision.

But counter services were becoming less popular as customers moved to Internet and telephone banking, he said.

Customers, who will be notified in writing, can currently withdraw or pay in cash but are not offered a full banking service.

The cash machines will remain and no redundancies are planned, which Windermere Parish Council chairman Coun Richard Ogden said was "good news".

Lakes Parish Council is writing to The Halifax to convey members' dismay at the decision, which follows Barclays Bank's closure of several rural branches last year.

"Big businesses are not taking into account how much facilities like this are the life blood of the community," said County Coun Anne Parker.

"It is the loss of another rural facility.

If more people vote with their feet these banks might take more notice of rural issues."

Coun Parker and Parish Council clerk Robin Martakies both said they would be closing their Halifax accounts.

"I shall regret this services going.

I am sad, very sorry and quite shocked," said Mr Martakies, who denied the Ambleside facility was not well-used.

Coun Elizabeth Braithwaite, deputy chairman of the Local Government Association's Rural Commission, was "astounded" at the news, saying: "It is not only a blow for Ambleside and Windermere but for the surrounding villages which use the services there."

Coun David Vatcher described the loss as a "reduction in choice for residents."