North Coast 500 route '˜could suffer' due to ATM shortage

Visitors following the North Coast 500 route enjoy Scotland's spectacular scenery.

The closure of a string of bank branches across the Highlands could damage the popularity of the North Coast 500 route, business leaders are warning.

Described as “Scotland’s answer to Route 66”, the NC500, starts at Inverness and heads north to Dingwall and the Black Isle, Sutherland and Caithness, then comes down into Wester Ross and the Applecross peninsula before heading back towards to Inverness.

In the first year since the 516-mile stretch was officially launched in 2015 by North Highland Initiative, 29,000 more people visited the north of Scotland, spending an additional £9 million locally.

However, small businesses say the success of the new initiative, named as one of the top six coastal routes in the world, could be jeopardised by banks closing down branches in remote areas leaving both tourists and local people without access to ATMs and services.

The Bank of Scotland announced in April that it was closing six branches north of Inverness in September - Beauly, Bonar Bridge, Dornoch, Fortrose, Helmsdale and Lairg.

The Royal Bank of Scotland has closed branches in Invergordon, Lybster and Lochinver over the past two years and the Clydesdale closed down its branch in Thurso.

David Richardson, Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) development manager for the Highlands and Islands, said while banks had to operate commercially the closures were in danger of impacting on those using NC500 as well as local businesses.

“The closures are certainly having a big impact on small businesses in fragile communities. While NC 500 has been a huge boost for the northern Highlands, what matters is not the number of tourists you attract but how much they spend when they come through the door.

“We do not live in a cashless economy and if people can’t get money out they can’t spend it.”

Michael Baird, from Bonar Bridge, a leading campaigner against the bank closures, said they could also impact on future tourism developments.

“I’m part of a group setting up Heart of Sutherland Tourism (HOST) to persuade those visiting NC 500 to visit us too. But we are greatly concerned about what’s happening and will be watching developments closely.”

Gail Ross, SNP MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, said: “I think that the banks should really listen to the FSB and act accordingly. At the very least do a proper and thorough consultation and impact assessment. Closure of premises and the removal of cash points have already started to negatively affect rural towns and villages. It would be a sad irony if communities were to miss out on the economic benefits that the NC500 brings because of bank closures.”

A Bank of Scotland spokesman said: “We remain committed to our Bank of Scotland network and branches will continue to play an important role in our multi-channel approach to meeting customer needs.

“At the same time we are investing heavily in digital and mobile to give our customers more choice, whilst operating an increased mobile branch service to support more rural communities.

“Our business banking team also works hard to support small businesses with additional card services, reducing their reliance on cash and coin.”