Politicians urge Santander branch closures rethink

Santander bank has confirmed that it is to close 140 branches across the UK. Three branches in Lothian are to close: Morningside Road and Leith Walk in Edinburgh and George Street in Bathgate.

The bank says the closures are being made for efficiency and cost saving reasons, after reviewing the usage of these branches.

Santander claims that at the Edinburgh Morningside branch 47% of customers also use another branch and 60% use online banking, at the Edinburgh Leith Walk branch 38% use another Santander branch and 56% use online banking and at the Bathgate George Street branch 27% use another Santander branch and 50% use online banking.

Employees at these branches will either be redeployed or will have to look for employment outside of Santander bank.

Edinburgh Northern & Leith MSP Ben Macpherson said: “Today I joined 17 other SNP MSPs and MPs in writing a joint letter to Santander, calling on them to undertake an urgent re-think of planned branch closures, including the one at the bottom of Leith Walk.

“With the nearest alternative branch on Hanover Street, the closure of this branch in the centre of Leith would affect many of my constituents who use the branch, as well as employees, and would have a real impact on accessibility for those with mobility issues.

“I urge Santander to recognise the importance of this for financial inclusion in Scotland, and reconsider the planned closures.”

Lothian Scottish Conservative MSP Miles Briggs and Scottish Conservative Councillor Nick Cook have expressed concerns about the closures of these branches.

Miles Briggs, Scottish Conservative Lothian MSP, said: “Whilst I understand the need of banks to have branches that are cost effective I am concerned about the impact that this will have on people in Edinburgh and Bathgate.

“In particular many Santander customers who are pensioners and do not use online banking will have to travel further from their homes to do their banking and will be especially inconvenienced.

“I have written directly to Santander to raise the concerns of constituents on the closure of these branches that will have a detrimental impact on their access to the bank and asking Santander to review their decision to close these branches.”

Nick Cook, Scottish Conservative Councillor, said: “This is a disappointing move from Santander.

“Many of my constituents in Morningside – particularly elderly residents – continue to rely upon bricks and mortar branches and they will be amongst the worst affected by this closure.”

In a statement, Santander said: “Over the last five years, we have continually invested in our branch network. All of our busiest branches across the UK have been refurbished and we’ve introduced improved services for our customers, including our new touch screen cash machines.

“However, more of our customers are changing the way they choose to manage their money, and as a result, customers are visiting our branches less frequently. More and more people find it convenient to do their day to day banking using online, mobile or telephone banking.

“To support these changing needs, we are embracing changes in technology that will help our customers. We were one of the first UK banks to adopt the new payment services such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay and we continue to develop our Mobile Banking apps to help our customers manage their money.

“As a result of our customers’ needs changing, we’ve undertaken a review of our branch network and have taken the difficult decision to close some branches. We don’t take the decision to close any branch lightly.

“We assess each branch individually to consider the potential impact for customers and the alternative options available to bank locally.

“As part of our commitment to fair banking through the Access to Banking Standard, we’ve explained the circumstances surrounding our branch closures.”