Council urged to challenge TSB decision
GLASGOW councillors are being urged to back plans which could help reverse the decision to close six TSB branches throughout the city. Labour councillor Martin Rhodes will present a motion at a full council this week asking for a report detailing the steps the council is taking to work with partners such as credit unions, advice services and commercial banks to ensure residents have access to basic banking facilities.
Mr Rhodes is issuing a plea to ensure that there is provision for free ATMs across the city and all its communities while ensuring that lack of available cash and the blight of vacant bank branches are not barriers to local high- street growth.
The proposal follows on from the announcement that six city TSB branches will be closed indefinitely amid a “significant shift in customer behaviour” as more people bank online.
The closures come as part of a UK- wide cut, which will see a total of 164 branches shut and the loss of 960 jobs.
Banks in Glasgow scheduled to close by June 2021 include branches in Anniesland, Dennistoun, Drumchapel, Easterhouse, Partick and Springburn.
TSB bosses previously said the closures were not an “easy decision”, however the issue had been accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic.
At the beginning of the month Labour councillor Aileen McKenzie launched a petition to challenge TSB to reverse the decision.
Ms McKenzie said: “This is the last bank branch left in the community I represent, Springburn, and the last cash withdrawal machines that do not charge you to have access to your own money. This decision will hit the poorest in the community the hardest and also those who are digitally excluded.”
In his motion to full council, Mr Rhodes will ask members to note the decision to close another six branches in Glasgow while research from Which? Magazine suggests that Glasgow will have lost around 50% of its local bank branches by 2021.
Labour leader councillor Malcolm Cunning is backing his plea.
He said: “The decision by the TSB to close bank branches across the city is wrong and should be reversed. We are calling on Glasgow City Council to work with the credit unions, post offices, commercial banks and others, to intervene and save our high streets.
“Whether it’s the blight of more vacant shopfronts in local communities, or the reduction in free access to cash, these continued closures pose a real challenge to local areas.
“Right now, our local communities need more support and more co- ordinated action than ever before. We can and must support our local businesses, and local people.”
The proposals are set to be discussed on Thursday.