Local MSP’s are very concerned today after it has been announced today (18 January 2017) that two local rural branches of the Clydesdale Bank in Castle Douglas and Stranraer.
The Clydesdale and Yorkshire banking group have proposed the closure of 79 branches across Scotland with the loss of 400 jobs, including axing their branches in Stranraer and Castle Douglas.
This will leave just two Clydesdale Bank branches in the region, one in Dumfries and one in Newton Stewart. The move comes a decade after the bank closed branches in Annan, Dalbeattie, Lockerbie and New Galloway- with the latter closure leaving the village with no bank.
South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth said, “This announcement is a real bombshell for the communities in Dumfries and Galloway. It’s a major blow to the bank’s customers in Stranraer and Castle Douglas and will be devastating for those who will lose their job and my thoughts are very much with them and their families. There are now just two Clydesdale Banks left in the region miles apart so it is pie in the sky for the company to claim they will be able to find staff jobs elsewhere”.
“It’s another example of the centralisation agenda facing many of our rural communities where crucial local services are being lost. Of course banks need to adapt when the number of customers over the door falls. But it’s a real insult when the Clydesdale Bank issue a press statement saying this is about investing in a superior customer experience. The travel time involved to their nearest branch for customers affected now completely removes any choice for those wishing to carry out their banking in a local branch. The bank also don’t seem to understand that for many people in remote rural communities online banking is simply not possible because of poor internet access no matter how much fancy digital technology the bank’s press statement claims they have. “
“The closure of the Stranraer branch will mean customers having to travel to Newton Stewart or Ayr if they want to carry out their banking in a local branch and that’s just not viable for many people. The closure will also leave a prominent building on Hanover Street sitting empty. When it is concluded that a town the size of Stranraer can’t sustain one of the major banks in Scotland then you do have to fear for the very future of high street banking everywhere outside of our cities and largest towns”
“The closure of the Castle Douglas branch following on from the closure of the branch in Dalbeattie a decade ago now means the Clydesdale Bank don’t have a single branch anywhere in the stewartry and leaves customers having to trek to Newton Stewart or Dumfries. The message they send out to customers in rural areas is that they’re just not interested in them”.
The local MSP has now launched a petition against the closures and has asked for an urgent meeting with the company to lobby against the closure plan.
Richard Arkless MP Said “I am deeply disappointed by the announcement of the Clydesdale bank closures in Stranraer and Castle Douglas. I am a customer of the Stranraer branch and know most of the staff who work there. My first concern is for the staff members who are now facing redundancy in April.
In rural communities such as ours, people from outlining areas often travel into the bigger towns to use the bank and while they are there they might also pop into the butchers, or meet a friend in a café for lunch or do many other small things that help to support the local high street. The closure of a bank has a huge impact on our small towns as a whole, negatively impacting footfall and damaging all of the surrounding businesses.
I will be arranging to meet with Clydesdale bank as soon as possible to discuss these closures further. If you will be affected by this announcement in any way then please let me know – you can email me on [email protected] or phone my constituency office on 01387 265 698″
MSP for South Scotland Emma Harper today (Thursday) said that the announcement of the closure of Clydesdale Bank branches in Castle Douglas and Stranraer was bad news for Galloway and urged the bank to reconsider.
Emma said:
“The announcement that Clydesdale Bank is to close its branches in Stranraer and Castle Douglas is bad news for Galloway and represents a further unwelcome removal of high street banking from major towns in the region.
“If they go head, these closures will leave the whole of the Stewartry without a branch of the Clydesdale Bank, since the branch in Dalbeattie closed some years ago, and the second largest town in the region, Stranraer, without a Clydesdale branch either.
“Whilst I recognise that an increasing number of people use online and mobile banking, it is still the case that there are transactions that have to be done over the counter. I will be writing to the Chief Executive of the Clydesdale & Yorkshire Banking Group to urge him to reconsider these proposals.”
