PLANS to move memorial plaques from a high street bank have been criticised by an MP.

Chris Green, MP for Bolton West, said that Natwest’s decision to remove a display featuring names of employees who lost their lives in combat from its branch in Market Street, Westhoughton was ‘very disappointing’.

Following the closure of the branch on Tuesday, it has been revealed that the plaques will be moved to the next-closest branch in Leigh, which is a 15-minute drive away.

Mr Green has now written to the Royal Bank of Scotland, which owns Natwest, to protest the plans and ask that the memorial is relocated somewhere in Westhoughton.

He said: “I’ve had a few people contact me concerned about plans to move the war memorial plaque currently in the Natwest in Westhoughton to their branch in Leigh.

“This is very disappointing and I have written to the chief executive of RBS to ask him to reconsider this decision and look at keeping them in our town instead.

“Although the memorial is for members of staff who lost their lives in combat, they were also local people and I believe that we should be able to find a better home for the memorial here in Westhoughton.”

Members of Westhoughton Town Council said this week that they were dismayed at the decision after trying to convince bank bosses to hand the plaques over to be put on display in the local library or the town hall so residents could see them.