A few weeks ago the Ileach published an article in which they wrote that the petrol filling station in Port Ellen has been closed since last December and showed no sign of being re-opened. This situation has forced village residents to drive the twenty-mile round trip to Bowmore in order to fill up their tanks, not an ideal situation to say the least. In the aforementioned article Councillor Currie said: "Closure of the station at Port Ellen is very bad news for the island and for the Port Ellen area in particular. I have been in touch with South Islay Development Company to see what we can do to help, and hopefully together we can find a way forward."

Yesterday the Campbeltown Courier reported that funding has been secured to assist a community buyout of a fuel station in Port Ellen to save islanders a 20-mile round trip. South Islay Development received £50,000 after applied for funding from the Scottish Land Fund, part of the Big Lottery Fund, for help to buy the recently closed petrol station. This is great news for Port Ellen and hats off for the South Islay Development group. On our Facebook page Kirsten Laurie, Local Development Officer of South Islay Development, responded as follows:

"Thank you everyone for your support and messages. We are extremely pleased to have been awarded this funding after lots of hard work. However, I’d just like to clarify that negotiations are still ongoing at this time regarding the Filling Station purchase and having funding in place is no guarantee that we will be able to secure the asset, although we are hopeful. I feel it’s also important to point out that the total of £50,000 includes some money for the purchase and also funding which we must use for staff costs and legal fees. We have secured support from another two organisations to complete our funding package. More details will be available as soon as we receive news regarding the purchase, so please bear with us." To be continued....

Tag: port ellen