Plans to remove two cash machines from a Johnstone bank earmarked for closure have been blocked by elected members.
NatWest, owner of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), requested planning permission to extract the ATMs and night safe from its branch in Church Street, which is set to close on August 15.
However, despite officers recommending the application be granted, councillors felt doing so would prove “detrimental” to the economic life of the town centre and undermine aspects of the local development plan.
As a result, Councillor Andy Doig’s plea that it be refused, which was seconded by ward colleague Councillor Chris Gilmour, received the unanimous backing of council members at the recent planning and climate policy board meeting.
He told the Paisley Daily Express: “I am delighted that fellow councillors stood by both the spirit and letter of the Renfrewshire Local Development Plan – policies C1 and P1 specifically – and voted to keep the ATMs in place for potential use.
“The removal of the two ATMs would have been detrimental to the economic life of Johnstone town centre, especially to the elderly, less affluent and those without private transport.
“Being inclusive and accessible is a key element of progressive planning policy and I am glad that council colleagues backed those two key principles. There is a precedent here which is important.
“In 2014, RBS closed its Lochwinnoch branch but crucially agreed to leave the ATM on the side of its former building, which is still operational today.
“If it is good enough in one community, it is equally good in others, so Councillor Gilmour and I are calling on NatWest to do the decent thing and leave them as operating ATMs.
“It is outwith the scope of the planning decision taken to compel NatWest to commit to that in the future, however, we have achieved the first step to stop their removal.
“The second step is for NatWest to realise the key importance which they have for the whole of Johnstone, a town of 17,000, which desperately needs four working ATMs in the heart of the town.”
After the amendment was agreed at last Tuesday’s meeting, Councillor Jim Paterson, board convener, said: “I suppose the cynic in me hopes that we don’t just have two non-functional ATMs at this location and NatWest at least keep one of them in operation. It would seem sensible.”
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