Residents in Whitewater Region are continuing to fight to try to save the Scotiabank in Beachburg from closure. Scotiabank has announced plans to shut down the local branch in June of this year. Members of the Save our Scotiabank (SOS) committee, Gwen Bennett and Bonny Johnson, say the bank has scheduled a town hall meeting in Beachburg for January 28th. Johnson says they’ve asked Scotiabank to push the date back to give the community more time to gather concerns and questions.
Representatives from the SOS committee haven’t heard back from Scotiabank yet about changing the date of the meeting. Town councillors in Whitewater Region have also asked Scotiabank to reconsider the closure. Bennett adds there are many community partners involved in the bid to save the bank.
The two SOS committee representatives say it’s not only seniors and low income people who will be affected. They add local business owners who don’t travel to Cobden, where customer accounts will be automatically be transferred, are considering changing banks altogether to the next closest location in Pembroke. Johnson and Bennett say one staff member at the Country Haven retirement/nursing home does the banking for around 30 seniors at this location and if the location closes, they won’t have the time to travel out of town to offer this service. According to local historians, the Beachburg branch has been around since 1873.
Paper copies of the survey are available at the Health Centre in Beachburg, the library and township office. You can take part in the online survey on the Township of Whitewater Region website here.
Posted by Save Our Scotiabank on Friday, January 10, 2020