Rutherglen Reformer

Banks must repay communitie­s

- Douglas Dickie

Banks are“failing in their community purpose”according to a Rutherglen councillor.

Robert Brown was speaking after it emerged the Royal Bank of Scotland would close their Burnside branch in October.

The news followed on from three banks either closing or announcing they were closing in Cambuslang.

Councillor Brown, who is seeking re-election in the Rutherglen South ward for the Liberal Democrats, has now written to RBS calling on them to reconsider the closure.

He said:“Banks – like post offices, libraries, advice services and public offices – are vital to the health of local suburban centres like Burnside, or indeed Cambuslang and Rutherglen. If they go, then people go elsewhere to access money or pay bills and they don’t come back.

“The Scottish banks in particular had to be rescued by the taxpayers in 2008 because of the calamitous mistakes they made – but they were too important to fail.

“Now it is time for them to repay that debt to the local communitie­s who had to pick up the bill.

“Everyone accepts that much more business is done on line and that there may need to be changes in how things are done.

“But it is totally intolerabl­e for major banks just to withdraw without any local consultati­on about alternativ­e models or the effects on local areas and local businesses.

“The banks operate in a commercial world but they are emphatical­ly not just like other businesses.”

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom