A petition has been created after a cashpoint at a filling station in Ellon, Aberdeenshire (population 10,000) was deemed sufficient to serve the town centre.
The town previously had four bank branches, but all closed between 2018 and 2024. Link, which is a non-profit interbank organisation that oversees the UK’s network of 48,000 cashpoints, is obliged to perform a cash-access assessment when a community loses a bank branch or cashpoint.
The organisation’s analysis of Ellon was performed due to a cashpoint operated by the Bank of Scotland being set for imminent closure following the bank closing its branch in the town in late 2024.
Link’s assessment concluded with it stating that it is “not recommending the provision of any new cash access services in Ellon”. The organisation told Aberdeen Live that “a new deposit taking machine has opened next to the Ellon petrol station”, and as this will be “open to businesses and individuals”, it will “provide additional capacity for people locally to manage their cash”.
The town’s MP, Harriet Cross, objected to Link’s assessment, and while the organisation rejected this appeal, Cross launched a petition that has so far gained 750 signatures, arguing that the town needs a banking ‘hub’. Banking hubs are operated by Post Offices and offer face-to-face banking facilities no matter whom someone banks with, and are deployed in areas with limited or no access to banking services.
Link sets out that in addition to a cashpoint and deposit facility at the MFG-owned forecourt there is a Post Office in the town centre, while the organisation highlights that Ellon is also served by a Post Office to the west of the town, and another two cashpoints to the east and south. The nearest bank branch, however, is over 12 miles away.
