Council urged to back cheque campaign
The leader of Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council, Cllr Stuart Bray, has thrown his support behind a campaign to save cheques.
The Payment Council, a group made up from 28 of the big banks and financial companies have decided to phase out the cheque by 2018.
Cllr Bray has submitted a motion to the next meeting of the Council urging it to back a campaign to keep cheques.
Cllr Bray said "Scrapping cheques without an adequate alternative will hurt many charities and community groups, small businesses and some of the most vulnerable people in the country.
"It's time the banks listened to people and let people have the choice to keep using cheques. I hope the whole council will back the campaign."
Hinckley and Bosworth Liberal Democrat councillors are also running a petition to save cheques, this can be signed at http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/savethechequebookhttp://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/savethechequebook
The wording of the motion is as follows
a) high street banks are planning to stop accepting cheques despite protest from consumer groups and businesses;
b) in December 2009, the Payments Council agreed on behalf of the major banks to scrap cheques in 2018;
c) nearly four million cheques are still being written each day and that many people still prefer to pay for goods and services in this way;
d) believes many people and organisations including the elderly, businesses and charities would be seriously affected as a result;
e) 126 MPs from all parties have signed Early Day Motion 258 calling for the banks to reconsider their proposals.
This Council further notes that on November 2nd 2010, David Ward MP presented a 10 minute rule bill to the House of Commons which would place a duty on the City Regulator, the Financial Services Authority, to ensure that cheques stay in use until suitable alternatives are found and that the Bill will be debated in June 2011.
This Council calls upon the Chief Executive to write to the Prime Minister expressing this Council's concern about the plans to abolish cheques and urging him to provide Parliamentary time to ensure that the Bill is passed into law."