The infrastructure of a Bradford village is being weakened as vital services are being lost, it has been claimed.

Councillor John Briggs (Liberal Democrat, Baildon) said the news that the HSBC bank in Baildon would be closing next week - alongside the probable closure of two of Baildon's post offices - was ironic when residents were trying to move the community forward with its urban village project.

A spokesman for HSBC confirmed today the branch will close next Friday.

Coun Briggs said: "There are quite a lot of shops and businesses in Baildon and they are the ones that are going to be hard hit. Baildon just gets bigger and bigger and we get fewer and fewer things. It is simply weakening the community's infrastructure.

"If you start to take a community's building blocks away, it will crumble."

He said HSBC was the last remaining bank in the village although it did have two building societies. He said he hoped as a minimum the company would retain a cash machine and is urging people to write to the bank to express their views.

A spokesman for HSBC said: "We are sensitive to the fact that any decision to move or close a branch is one which local communities take seriously.

"Our decision to close Baildon branch was based on careful consideration of local circumstances, in particular very low customer usage of our facilities.

"We do have another branch at Shipley one mile away, offering a counter service and ATM facilities."

Public consultation is currently being held to find out how the residents would like to see the village develop as part of Bradford Council's urban village project.

Four neighbourhood forums were held early in October to brainstorm ideas and concern was expressed about the amount of new development and the lack of facilities to cope with the increase of people, particularly youngsters.

Sara Clarke, vice-chairman of the Baildon Futures Partnership, which is spearheading the urban village project, said she believed the bank was well-used.

She said: "It seems that if these places aren't making a large profit, then they don't want to know."

She hoped the bank would get a retail use and said many people would like to see a village delicatessen or a shoe shop.

A decision is due to be made on two post office closures in the next few weeks.