West Lothian Council pleads with RBS bosses to keep branch open

West Lothian council is to write to Natwest asking the banking giant to keep its Bathgate branch of RBS open.
If the closure, announced last month, goes ahead it will mean RBS has only one branch left in West Lothian.
Councillors warned that the loss of the Bathgate branch would have a " significant detrimental impact".
An SNP councillor for the town, Pauline Stafford, agreed to composite her original motion with Labour's Kirsteen Sullivan to write to Natwest expressing council's dismay at the decision and calling for a re-think.
Councillor Stafford told a meeting of the full West Lothian Council: "I'd like to thank the Labour group for agreeing to support our motion. I'm sure we were all disappointed to hear that the Royal bank of Scotland are planning to close their Bathgate branch."
"This would leave just one RBS branch in the whole of West Lothian and none at all in the Linlithgow and East Falkirk Constituency area. I think banks hold a key position in our society and on our high streets and as such they have a responsibility to meet the needs of their customers to ensure that access to in person banking services is provided adequately.

"The impact of yet another branch closure is widespread and is going to hit those in our communities who are already struggling. There are people unable to use digital banking, those with disabilities, older people, communities where public transport has been decimated and small businesses that rely on cash.
She said that Age UK has found that 39 % of over 65s were not managing the money online and so are at high risk of financial exclusion. Six out of ten small businesses rely on cash.
"These are the small businesses that we should be supporting after the pandemic."
She added: "The Bathgate RBS is a well used branch with great staff. People come into town with specific tasks like banking then they hopefully stay, do their shopping and have a coffee. The loss of the branch will affect the high street businesses."
Councillor Stafford said that the government's voluntary commitment to protect access to cash was not storing enough. The government as a major shareholder in Natwest should be doing all that it can to protect that policy.
Councillor Sullivan, who is the Labour candidate in the forthcoming election for the Linlithgow and Falkirk East constituency said: " I'd like to thank councillor Stafford for agreeing to include my point about jobs.
"Many of us have made the switch to digital but there are people who rely on bank services. There's still many people who like to go in and see the face behind the counter. Bank branches support small businesses and community organisations."

Council agreed to back the motion which called the Chief Executive to write to Natwest, "to express our opposition to this proposed closure and ask that they engage in constructive discussions with West Lothian Council to maintain a physical branch presence in Bathgate which prioritises the banking needs of our communities and preserves vital local services."

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