We were sick of travelling 40 miles to get fuel, so we bought our own petrol pump- it saves us hundreds a year
VILLAGERS who were sick of travelling miles to fill up their cars have bought their own petrol pumps to restore their village station.
Residents of Newcastleton in the Borders were having to travel to Hawick and Carlisle, a 40-mile round trip before the restoration.
Community council chairman Greg Cuthbert says the petrol station is a 'godsend' since its reintroduction four years ago.
He said: "Ten years ago we did a consultation on what was needed for the village and fuel access became a clear need.
"Luckily, the licensing on the old site was still there so we were able to rebuild the new station."
The station has a number of perks for locals including one penny of every litre of fuel going back into the community for other projects.
But mostly it's saving villagers money on fuel at a time when fuel prices have seen the biggest daily jump in 17 years.
Earlier this month the cost of petrol soared to over £2 a litre with a petrol pump in the Highlands selling unleaded at 208.7p-a-litre and diesel at 213p-a-litre
The community council now estimate Newcastleton households are now saving £500 per year thanks to no longer having to drive long distances just to fuel up.
Due to the lack of public transport many families had three or four cars and many are self-employed and used vans and transits for their businesses adding big fuel expenses.
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Local buses have seen a slashing of their timetable and despite having a railway track alongside the village there are no accessible railway options.
The tiny village lies isolated only a few miles from the Scotland- England border.
Being a traditional agricultural village, farmers were also facing issues with filling up essential farm equipment like tractors and quad bikes,
Greg says the villagers describe themselves as a 'landlocked' town but they sometimes struggle with this mindset and miss out on things like community groups for kids or health care like hospitals and dentists.
"Just the other day I drove to Borders General Hospital in Galashiels which is an 80-mile round trip.
"Everyone has to make long distance trips for stuff like the hospital and even dentistry.
"You have to go to Galashiels if you need the orthodontist.
Barbara Elborn BEM, secretary and treasurer of the Newcastleton and District Community Trust, said the trust are now working on creating a space to bring essential services locally as technology allows patients to use NHS 'near me' services.
She said: "We now have the technology land resources locally based to provide access to the NHS 'near me' appointment service so residents don't need to travel.
"It's too early to say what impact the new facilities have made BUT having a space to support, nurture, entertain, to provide classes and social inclusion and just generally have a good time together post Covid is proving very popular!"
Everyone has to make journeys to bigger towns and cities but for those who didn't need to leave the village filling up their cars meant taking unnecessary journeys.
Greg said: "People that didn't have to leave the village, like the elderly were having to leave just to put petrol in their car because their cars are necessary for them to get around."
Residents also work in Carlisle, Hawick and Galashiels, each a 20 minute and 40 minute drive respectively, so the over the last four years the petrol station has 'made a real difference'.
As the pandemic came around, like many places, the village of Newcastleton closed down.
While everyone retreated inside for lockdown doctors, nurses and healthcare workers were still out visiting the people who needed to be seen.
Local healthcare workers travel to Northumberland and Cumberland to see patients.
Before the station their journeys were made even longer by having to travel 20-odd miles just to put petrol in their car.
The coronavirus lockdown came just as the village was recovering from the worst flooding they'd had in 150 years.
Now, there are still a multitude of problems for the villagers to contend with including the rise in fuel prices.
Chairman Greg said: "It's hard to understand the cost rural villages have.
"The real financial impact is going to be going into the winter because it's going to get much worse.
"We don't have a main gas line, our heating is done via oil which is likely to cost some families £100 a week.
"That's the next thing we need to deal with- how to avert from fuel poverty."
In it's fourth year of operation, the station is decreasing costs for many while bringing in more visitors for the area.
Residents from neighbouring villages are now encouraged to come and use local amenities and help local businesses recover, which Greg said is a 'huge plus point' of the station.
The area has 'never escaped' from rural poverty or not in his lifetime says Greg.
The new station is a way for the community to "do anything to help people with their pockets."
But, the community have further plans to improve their situation.
Currently they have one electric vehicle charging point which is said to be so popular people are queueing to use it.
58-year-old Greg says the village can easily hold three or four more spaces.
Barbara said they are now driving forward with their plans: " Living where we do is idyllic, but we lack choices, the community is striving to change that.
"Having fuel locally was the start of delivering our community place plan, we have a long way to go to complete it but with the support of our community, government, local authority, enterprise agencies and funders we will achieve our aims."
But there are still set backs to this plan.
According to Greg an upgrade is needed on infrastructure in the village to be able to host more electrical vehicle charging points as power inside the village is not good enough.
He said: "We've got the space for them but the trouble is there is not the capacity within the village to run them.
"We need an upgrade or we're going to fall behind.
"Most rural areas are the same, the power outside villages is better but it's not good enough inside."
Like the rest of us, the villagers of Newcastleton are feeling the brunt of the fuel crisis.
But their petrol station is still providing the lifeline many in this rural community needed.
Barbara is optimistic about their villages future saying: "Who needs to travel when you have what have – we live in a stunningly beautiful part of Scotland blessed with fantastic community spirit, resilience and values; a community who look out for one another and work together to get through challenges.
"We come from reiving stock so fighting spirit is in our nature, the energy crisis is a problem for us all, but we are working hard to overcome that where live focusing on our place and making it better for all who live and work here.
"We hope that our achievements inspire others to follow.
"Fuel was our passport to building economic recovery and we need it to keep going.
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"We hope that by increasing services and choices we can continue to grow and increasing demand will lead to better economic prospects, employment, and growth."
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