Western Isles Enterprise (WIE) has recently awarded the Welcome Inn Filling Station in Barvas a grant of £18,834 through the Rural Petrol Station Grant Scheme to assist with the upgrade of fuel pumps and related pipeworks.

The Rural Petrol Station Grant Scheme is a Scottish Executive funded grant aid scheme introduced in 1998 as a component of the Rural Transport Fund to assist businesses in rural communities with retention of a sustainable and accessible network of fuel supply throughout rural Scotland.

WIE, on behalf of Highland and Islands Enterprise, administer the scheme within the Western Isles and assess applications for assistance under the scheme according to local circumstances, with more strategic sites and those providing economic and social benefits being prioritised for investment. 

The Welcome Inn Filling Station is a long established business which serves the local area with a full range of fuel supplies, general groceries, car servicing and occasional sales of vehicles, boats and other equipment.  In addition to these services the filling station also provides an out of hours opening for Emergency and Home Care services and also home delivery of groceries, coal and gas. 

Donnie Macaulay, chief executive of Western Isles Enterprise said: "The upgrading of the fuel supply infrastructure at the Welcome Inn filling station, situated at Barvas on the west coast of Lewis, will ensure a continued high quality service provision for the community in this area and at the same time assist in sustaining rural employment."