East Cowes councillor Karl Love has been in touch with this latest news in relation to Island Fuels. In his own words.
News OnTheWight has been in touch with the parent company, the MP and the Isle of Wight council and will update once we hear back. Ed
The Isle of Wight Fuels Depot in East Cowes has been surrounded by a large black screen and the depot is in the process of being dismantled and demolished bringing to an end any chance of establishing a new fuel supply company on that site.
I’m informed that a mainland company is dismantling the site, cleaning out pipes and removing any remaining fuel. Taking away the important infrastructure means that it is impossible to sell this business on to another supplier.
Sun sets over the site
Demolishing this site brings to an end the Island’s only established independent fuel supplier as the sun sets over it for the last time.
I don’t know what will become of this site, but no doubt the people living in Kingston Road will finally get relief they always wanted from heavy vehicles rattling and shaking their houses.
I was contacted by a concerned customer reporting that they have not yet received reimbursement for their account and been unable to contact the company. However I am assured this reimbursement will happen.
Rise in oil and fuel prices
I fear oil and fuel prices across the Island will rise as a direct consequence of this closure.
The facts are that several large fuel tankers crossed the Solent every week on Red Funnel to the decanter their loads into the storage containers at the East Cowes fuel depot.
This fuel was then loaded into smaller tankers which can access those difficult farm roads, isolated buildings or locations that larger vehicles could not access.
Onward economic impact
Without this service there will be and onward economic impact which will see smaller more frequent vehicles crossing the Solent and this will inevitably increase the fuel costs for Island people.
This not only increases carbon emissions, but places dangerous inflammable materials onboard passenger ferries more frequently.
Love: A step in the wrong direction
This action does not help our council’s commitment to reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2030.
It’s definitely a step in the wrong direction creating more anxiety in the supply chain with more frequent heavy vehicles crossing the Solent.
Heating oil and diesel
It’s true that electric vehicles are becoming a common sight and will result in less carbons, but many houses on our Island rely on heating oil and our farmers definitely rely on there being a good and healthy supply chain of diesel.
The closure also results in the loss of jobs, believed to be 15, as well as more specialist operators. This comes on top of increased job losses resulting from the Coronavirus pandemic which are more than double the annual figures for summer.
I urge Island people to check their supplies of fuel and to order early for the winter months.
Image: © Karl Love
