Cash machines can be harder to find in rural areas

Yet while cities can be gridlocked and noisy, they do have two things that can be hard to find in the countrywide - a lot of banks and cash machines.

Russell Lawson, from the Federation of Small Businesses Wales, looks at how best to bank in rural areas.

QUESTION
Michael Davidson, Scotland
I'm hoping to establish a small joinery business in Dumfries and Galloway this year.

Whilst I'm comfortable with most aspects of my business plan, I was wondering if you could advise on the best banking options within the rural community.

ANSWER
Russell Lawson, Federation of Small Businesses Wales
The report Availability of Services in Rural Scotland investigated the current service provision in rural Scotland, providing information on the availability of 20 key services.

Access to banks and building societies and access to cash machines were two of the services it looked at.

It found that with the closure of some banks and building societies in rural areas, the availability of cashpoints is becoming increasingly important for people to obtain cash and other banking services.

Yet, banks and building societies in rural areas remain important for financial transactions that cannot be conducted by a cash machine.

The report showed that 34% of households in rural Scotland are within a five minute drive of a bank or building society, compared to 89% in urban areas and 86% in small towns.

Turning to cash machines, some 50% of households in rural areas live within five minutes drive of a cash machine, compared with nearly 100% of people in urban areas and small towns.

These figures do not take account of the growth in services such as internet and telephone banking, which do not require the presence of a bank in your locality to provide a full range of services.

On the back of this, the government now has a new commitment to improving access to cash in rural areas.

Cash is currently available through post offices, banks and cash machines, and is increasingly available through 'cashback' facilities in local stores, pubs, filling stations and similar outlets.

The introduction of the Post Office's universal banking services in April 2003 will open up a wider range of options for people to access cash.

The Co-operative Bank is in the final stages of installing LINK cash machines at 750 Co-operative convenience stores throughout the country.

They are available to customers of all banks and building societies, and the bank will not charge for their use.

These are making options slightly better, but the need for transporting takings to cash into a bank, and all the security implications of this, will still be present for the foreseeable future.

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