Someone told me once they could recall harvesting corn where now stands the Bank of Scotland in Balivanich. With the branch set to close, it seems the site will once more be left fallow. At least for a time.
No doubt the bankers at the top table within Lloyds Banking Group would tell us the numbers don’t lie. 216 customers in a four-month period is not enough to sustain a physical presence on Benbecula.
There are apparently other figures that factor into the broader equation. It’s said that the local population doesn’t even justify the creation of the kind of shared banking space that is taking the place of mothballed branches on mainland high streets.
This is relevant in a wider sense. Now the bank is to shut, the blank space created by the demolition of West Camp will be extended. So continues the re-wilding of Balivanich.
We’re told there’s talk of redeveloping West Camp. But for whom? If there are too few people living here to make the running of basic banking facilities worthwhile, then presumably it’s questionable whether we have the numbers to support whatever might take the place of the old base.
It’s probably safe the assume the same considerations will feature in the thinking and calculations of prospective buyers for Lovats supermarket, now for sale. Does our main settlement represent potential for profit, to say nothing of business growth?
Maybe this is a case, to borrow another agricultural analogy, of chicken and egg. Do we need to put the infrastructure in place first? Will the people then come?
It’s hard to say. Certainly while wages remain low, transport connections are so unreliable, and affordable housing is in such short supply, the prospects for achieving the critical mass required would appear to be poor.
The closure of the bank is indeed a sign of the times. The long winter of our islands goes on.
Spring could be just around the corner. But our policymakers need to make it happen. Sort out housing, connectivity and wages and the potential for a new season of growth and renewal will be real.
Like everything else though, it all comes down to numbers. And cash.
The bankers have decided Balivanich is no longer worth a place within its vast spreadsheets. Do the politicians see our islands as an investable proposition?
