Plans to close a Bank of Scotland branch on Cumbrae will be raised in Westminster, after the local MP announced her plans to present a petition on the matter.

Patricia Gibson, SNP MP for North Ayrshire and Arran, is to take the matter to Westminster.

It comes after Ms Gibson met with Neil Moore and Robert Cooper of Group Corporate Affairs, Lloyds Bank, on October 2 to discuss the proposed closure of the Bank of Scotland in Millport, and to urge the bank to reconsider.

We reported last month that the bank is to close in February 2024 as part of a number of nationwide closures including a premises in Brodick, Arran.

Owner Lloyd Banking Group has also given assurances that there will be no island redundancies as a result of the closure.

Ms Gibson said: “I stressed that it is unreasonable to use a uniform criteria when considering branch footfall and number of transactions, to decide if a bank branch should be retained, since we know that in rural and island communities, the numbers will inevitably be smaller than in towns and cities.

“I urged the bank to reconsider, pointing out how impractical it is for older and vulnerable Bank of Scotland customers to travel to Largs.

“As I have discovered from long experience of dealing with a range of banks which have left our communities over the years, once the decision to close a branch has been announced, banks will not reconsider their decisions and this was the position the Bank of Scotland took today.

“However, the Bank of Scotland has vowed to ensure that a ‘community banker’ will continue to serve its Millport customers and its representatives are working with Millport’s Post Office to ensure banking services continue to be delivered.

“This is clearly a bitter blow for the Isle of Cumbrae and yet another example of banks retreating from our towns across Scotland and the entire UK and something about which I have been very vocal in Westminster since I was first elected.

“Bank of Scotland is closing 28 branches across the country. Unfortunately, banking remains reserved to the UK Government whose position is that “the decision to close a branch is a commercial issue for banks and building societies and the Government does not intervene in these decisions.”

Ms Gibson continued: “Access to cash and banking facilities are important to our communities, consumers and local businesses and our banks have an ongoing duty to continue to support our communities.

“I will present a petition to the House of Commons on behalf of Cumbrae residents on this very issue when Westminster reconvenes.” 

Lloyds Banking Group, which owns the Bank of Scotland, said customers are moving towards digital banking. 

The Lloyds Banking Group said previously that keeping the Bank of Scotland on the Isle of Cumbrae open was unsustainable "as it only had 25 regular customers".