Councillors' plan to bring banking hub to Carnoustie

All elected members met recently with Mark Essex of the Access to Cash Group, which is looking to establish a banking hub in the town.

Councillors Brian Boyd, David Cheape and Mark McDonald are putting political differences aside to make the project a reality and are looking for the backing of local residents.

Mr Boyd said: “This is a great idea and will be well received by Carnoustie residents, it’s a step forward after TSB left the town with no banks.”

The idea of shared spaces or branches serving the customers of multiple banks has been around for some time, but it has never been run at scale. Carnoustie has been earmarked as one of the first branches put in place following two successful trials in other locations.

These were carried out last year in Cambuslang and Rochford where Access to Cash took over a small empty shop in the town centres and refitted it to create the feeling of privacy and security of a bank.

Mr McDonald said, “All of the major retail banks are signed up to this initiative. The counter service will support virtually all banks. The Hub Bankers will represent the banks that support the most consumers and small businesses locally.”

The next stage will be to set up a focus group to establish what customers want in a branch hub.

Mr Cheape added: “I’d encourage people to get in touch with all of us if they’d like to feed into the process.”