Campaign boost

Our campaign has had a real boost with a story and editorial in the Liverpool Echo on the subject.

You can see the story here.http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news//tm_headline=echo-investigation-scandal-of-cashpoint-charges-which-hit-liverpool-s-poor&method=full&objectid=29196248&siteid=100252-name_page.html

(there are several pages)

Breakthrough?

Quite some time ago we wrote letters to all the various big high street banks.  We were rather thinking what we had said had fallen on deaf ears but this week, in response to one of these, we had a call from the Royal Bank of Scotland office in Edinburgh.

The bank has promised to have a look at the points we made and the location and see if there is anything it can do.

Obviously the bank made the point that it couldn't promise to suddenly give us a free ATM but it is encouraging that someone was in touch after quite a wait.

We'll update if there is more news.

Business survey under way

Businesses in Cressington ward are going to be surveyed to see if they would be willing to take a non - charging ATM.

The question is being asked as part of a short questionnaire which also asks the views of business on a range of local issues.

If you run a business in Cressington, particularly a shop with long opening hours, please watch out for the survey and please have a think about whether you can help with the ATM problem.

If you run a business in Cressington but want to get in touch BEFORE you get your form, please e mail paula.keaveney@liverpool.gov.uk.

Update on lobbying the Council for help

Last year, Councillor Paula Keaveney proposed a motion to a committee meeting.  She wanted to raise the problems of lack of non charging ATMs and to see what the Council would do to help our campaign.

She's now had a response to the motion.  The full response will be published on the Council website with the minutes of the Regeneration and Transport Select Committee.  When its published it'll be here.http://councillors.liverpool.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CId=1207&Year=2011

However in summary what the Council has agreed to do includes:


* planning officers to explore how we can use the planning process to increase the number of free (ie non charging) ATMs in the City - this sounds rather procedural but has the potential to make quite a difference over time
* ask Liverpool Vision to see how they can get local businesses to install debit card services and offer cash back (a sort of alternative to an ATM although clearly only useful when the shop is open)
* help with lobbying at various levels


The Council however wasn;t prepared to go with one of Paula's suggestions which is to carry out a mapping exercise to see exactly where the free and non charging ATMs are.

The objection to doing this was to do with cost but also the complexity of this operation.  Paula has said she may want to talk about this as there may be an IT based way of doing this involving communities and individuals inputting information themselves (a bit like the Fix My Street system)

Meeting with HSBC

As part of the campaign, Cressington ward Councillors - Peter Millea, Paula Keaveney and Richard Oglethorpe met senior staff from HSBC today.  The idea was to get across to the bank the loss to the community when the branch at Mersey Road (with its ATM closed) and to talk about whether there's a possibility of a replacement machine anywhere locally.

The Councillors will be following up some leads as a result of the meeting.

If you want to contact them please e mail Paula at paula.keaveney@liverpool.gov.uk