Bank battle lost

A PETITION to save a bank in Lees has failed to make a difference as the cash registers rang for the last time yesterday.

Councillor Valerie Sedgwick had mounted a campaign to keep the branch of NatWest in High Street, Lees, open but to no avail.

Despite sending a letter pleading for the resource to stay put and a petition with over 500 local signatures, the sub-branch closed.

In a reply to the petitioners a spokesperson for NatWest said: “We didn’t take this decision lightly and looked at all the possible alternatives before reaching this conclusion.

“We took into account the usage of the branch by personal and business customers. It was clear that customer demand had fallen substantially.”

It was a disappointing day for the councillor who had successfully moved a motion at a full meeting of Oldham Council to write to the bank in protest.

Councillor Sedgwick said: “This is a sad day for Lees, it will cause a lot of inconvenience for people who will have to travel to Uppermill or Oldham to go to the bank.

“All these profits that the banks make, it just shows that they don’t care about small branches and how important they are to locals.

“We tried hard to save it, but now the worry is that this could have a knock-on effect for businesses.”