Telling stories of disappearing banks
Town &
Country Planning, June 1999
I have to confess occasionally that I can no
longer bring myself to believe that community organisation
can rescue Britain's inner cities. I know the theory, and I
believe passionately in the ideal. But another almost empty
hall, another self-appointed local spokesperson droning on,
and I sort of give up. You can see why people don't want to
spend their lives doing that kind of thing. I certainly
don't want to.
And then, every so often, something happens to restore my faith in the whole idea. In this case, it was a meeting at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London's East End, dedicated to getting something done about the way bank branches are closing in all the places that people need them the most.
For the first time I could imagine how local power can change our cities, and in this case, the structures which manage inner city money.
I had heard about the new-generation of community organisations, of which East London's TELCO is the most famous &emdash; built to the American model, highly-disciplined, multi-racial and very effective. But I had never quite grasped what they were about until I saw the gallery, with its sub-Jackson Pollock paintings, packed with 200 men, women and children, cheering loudly &emdash; brought together by the Citizen Organisation Foundation Institute (COFI).
I'm not sure what was most impressive. Perhaps it was the intelligent &emdash; not to say enthusiastic &emdash; interest taken in the proceedings by the very diverse audience. Maybe it was the fact that they managed to squeeze 21 speakers into an hour by the rigorous use of the stop-watch, wielded by a determined lady from Sheffield.
But there's no doubt that their icing on the cake was managing to attract along to the meeting, not just the chief executive of the new Financial Services Agency Howard Davies, but the governor of the Bank of England Eddie George.
Both sat throughout the hour and a half. Davies excelled himself at one point by exclaiming in reply to a question that that he was not Treasury minister Patricia Hewitt's master, but that she was his mistress. A moment's hush fell on the meeting.
Both may not remember the detailed arguments they heard about financial exclusion, but they will certainly remember the stories. Especially the elderly Indian lady who wielded a large map to describe the five banks which had been in Canning Town five years ago, all now disappeared, or the four hour bus ride to get to the nearest cashpoint.
Or, from a speaker from Liverpool, the gathering of loan sharks and their minders outside one DSS office every morning, ready to lend their clients' social security books back to them temporarily so they could withdraw their latest loan repayment. But then loan sharks are now the only source of local credit.
Both were then challenged to sign COFI's demand for a banking 'audit' &emdash; which included a call for a Community Reinvestment Act, along the lines of the 1977 legislation in the USA. Both refused, but promised to start a dialogue with their hosts on the subject.
"We don't want charity," said the Rev Ros Bell from the Black Country. "We're asking you to invest in our communities so that you can make money out of us."
Retaining the branch network of banks may not be the only solution, a genial Eddie George told the meeting &emdash; and he may be right. There is a new generation of credit unions emerging, possibly &emdash; with the help of NatWest &emdash; based in the buildings vacated by old bank branches.
But Labour MP Tony Colman, also at the meeting, promised he would shortly reintroduce his private members bill for a Community Reinvestment Act in the UK, to keep the debate going.
With organisations like TELCO around, it looks like it will be.
David Boyle is an associate of the New Economics Foundation and the author of Funny Money (www.funny-money.co.uk)
