A distance of just 15miles along the A6 between Penrith and Carlisle has drivers facing a 12p a litre difference in the price of unleaded petrol today.
Filling up at on the A6 just off J42 at Carlisle today drivers pay 149.9 a litre for unleaded but driving 15miles along the A6 to Bridge Lane in Penrith drivers are facing a substantial rise in the same fuel at 161.9 a litre for unleaded.
Penrith and other parts of Eden have for the last year faced consistently higher fuel costs than other parts of Cumbria and the UK.
One council 3 miles south of Penrith along the A6 at Clifton has said enough to the disproportionately bight fuel costs impacting rural communities. Clifton Community Council has written to the Prime Minister and Chancellor along with Westmorland and Furness Council and Penrith and The Border MP Neil Hudson calling for government to include Penrith and Eden in the government rural fuel rebate scheme that would see a 5p per litre fuel rebate applied on the forecourt prices paid.
Clifton Community Council said it recognises that, because of its rural nature, residents in Clifton as well as neighbouring communities including Penrith are disproportionately affected by the substantial rise in fuel prices over the past year. Car journeys in the local rural area around Penrith and across the Eden area are in general longer, and public transport services less frequent if available at all in many areas.
Research by the Countryside Alliance found that rural households spend an average of £2440 a year on filling up their car, £800 more than households in urban areas.
Clifton Community Council said it believes that more should be done to support residents in communities across the Eden area with the disproportionate rising fuel prices.
The Government currently operates a Fuel Duty Relief scheme for some rural areas, but at present this relief only applies in a limited number of remote parts of Britain such as Orkney, Shetland, the Outer & Inner Hebrides, the Isles of Scilly and now also covers Hawes in North Yorkshire, and post code districts in: Scotland — IV14, IV21, IV22, IV26, IV27, IV54, KW12, PA38, PA80, PH19, PH23, PH36, PH41 along with post code districts in England of EX35, NE48, LA17 that covers a rural area in the south of Cumbria in part of the new Westmorland and Furness Council district around Kirkby In Furness.
Members of Clifton Community Council voted unanimously to support a motion to call on the UK Government to extend fuel duty relief to more rural areas, including The CA10, CA11, CA7, CA9, CA12, CA16 and CA17 with consideration to extending to cover all of Cumbria as a rural community that faces disproportionate fuel costs compared to most of the rest of the UK due to the highly rural nature and dispersed communities.
Clifton Community Council also agreed to call on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to immediately extend rural fuel duty relief to help residents and businesses within the local community, who it said “right now face real term higher costs for fuel compared to other parts of Cumbria and the UK.”
And said it would also call on neighbouring town and Parish Councils along with Westmorland and Furness Council and and local MP’s to support its call to extend rural fuel duty to support our rural local communities.
The chair of Clifton Community Council said “Rural communities like Clifton and neighbouring communities including Penrith have to rely on cars due to the poor state of public transport in the area. Clifton Community council are committed to standing up for our community and ensuring it gets the representation it deserves and needs both local and at a national level and the huge impact on members of our community and others locally that the disparity of fuel costs have is an issues that the UK government has the ability to help ease and address using current legislation and mechanisms and we will do all we can to ensure Government hears the message loud and clear.”
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