Margaret Mullane MP is adding her voice to the growing campaign to call a halt to the rush of bank and building society branch closures across the nation. Margaret has been contacted by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) at Westminster to give her support to its work to highlight the damage that branch closures have caused to communities and local businesses.
Margaret commented “ Dagenham and Rainham has been hit hard with bank branch closures over recent years. We have seen face-to-face banking services diminish over the past decade with big names such as Lloyds, Natwest, Barclays, HSBC, and Halifax leaving big holes on the high street. Access to cash is a big driver of footfall on our local high streets and when the banks go, we see a deterioration of other amenities, with increased pressure on small and medium sized enterprises to sustain their businesses.
My concern is that closures restrict access to face-to-face financial services and support, in many cases used by older and more economically vulnerable customers. Moving services online is not a viable replacement for many people.
Given the recent announcement of more Post Office closures I am deeply concerned for the future of financial services in Dagenham and Rainham. Labour’s election manifesto pledged banking hubs and I have been advocating for these at key locations where high street bank branches have closed. It is the hope that ‘hubs’ will be able to fill the void left by bank branches and provide the face-to-face financial support that many in society still need.”
The APPG is asking for evidence of the impact of bank branch closures to be submitted to them to david.spencer@barndoorstrategy.com
Margaret added “I encourage people in Dagenham and Rainham to submit their experiences to the APPG. What the banks and building societies have done has caused damage and has had bad impacts on our high streets. I am hoping that shining more light on this will get these financial institutions to put right this situation and serve their customers better.”
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