Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council opposes bank closures in rural areas

Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council (LCCC) approved a motion, which looks to support vulnerable people in the community struggling to gain access to banks.

Recent closures of AIB, Barclays, Danske, Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank has seen villages such as Hillsborough being left devoid of financial outlets with only a village ATM as a cash resource.

Lisburn North DUP Councillor Jonathan Craig said: “This problem was brought to me locally by people who are frustrated by the fact we are continually losing banks in our city council area.

“The statistics on this are absolutely startling, from 1986 to 2023, the number of branches in operation in the UK has fallen from 14,689 to 5,745, which is 61% of banks now closed.

“It’s quite clear that there are many groups within our society who this negatively impacts such as the disabled, the elderly, people living in rural areas and small businesses.”

He added: “Banking hubs have come about and are a great idea for communities that have been left with no banks.

“But the sad fact is across the UK there are 31 banking hubs in operation across the UK, and surprise, surprise there are 21 in England, seven in Scotland, two in Wales and one in Northern Ireland.

“They are very slow to be rolled out and depend on banks giving existing staff time to run them and there in lies the problem, as they are continually closing banks to reduce staff.”

The first banking hub in Northern Ireland opened in Kilkeel in December.

The hub was set up by Cash Access UK, a not-for-profit company designed to protect access to cash services established by nine major high street banking providers.

Downshire East Alliance Councillor Aaron McIntrye said: “Local branches of our banks are probably more important now than they have ever been.

“We are in a cost of living crisis at the minute and there are a lot of people who won’t be able to put fuel in their car to go from Dromara to Belfast to the nearest branch.

“I do also feel sorry for the staff and I do hope that they will be redeployed and I would hope that we get clarity on that.

“I was recently made aware that charity and community groups, who require two signatories in person to take money out of an account, who will be directly impacted by this.

“There has been no guidance for these groups.”

He added: “There has been a bank hub opened in Kilkeel and there are four planned for Northern Ireland, mostly in south Down so hopefully that can be a way forward.

“If we look at Hillsborough we lost the Dankse Bank and we have the temporary closure of the post office, so the only thing we now have is a cash machine and that’s it, for anything else you have to travel elsewhere.

“We are promoting Royal Hillsborough and the businesses that are there relying on cash, we really need to be looking for alternatives.”