RURAL communities have welcomed news that the Treasury is considering increasing the number of remote mainland areas which could benefit from fuel duty discounts.
The Government was to apply to the European Commission for permission to extend the 5p per litre discount allowed on the Scottish islands and the Isles of Scilly since March 2012 to 10 mainland communities. The application will not now be made until into the new year.
It follows the outrage in many Highland areas at the decision to earmark just 10 mainland locations, including Achnasheen and Strathpeffer, where the petrol stations had already closed.
Carrbridge, in Chief Secretary Danny Alexander's constituency, is only around 25 miles from five major supermarkets in Inverness.
At the same time, there were no areas picked from the most northerly counties on the mainland of Caithness and Sutherland, where some communities can be up to 100 miles from cheap fuel at supermarket pumps.
Two areas of Sutherland, Durness and Lochinver, were included last week following an intervention by local Liberal Democrat MP John Thurso.
Mr Alexander has now confirmed a further rethink.
He said: "Work is needed to ensure that we have all the information that is necessary to submit the application. That will be the subject of a supplementary piece of work and we will submit the application in the new year."
Former party leader Charles Kennedy, who represents Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency, said: "I am extremely pleased that the Government has been receptive to the concerns raised by constituents on the issue of the fuel subsidy rebate."
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