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Closure of local garage indicative of a
more widespread decline in rural facilities
James Irvine
Teviot Scientific, Cultybraggan Farm, Comrie,
Perthshire
Filed 03 Nov 06
©www.land-care.org.uk
There used to be two garages in the
large village of Comrie, Perthshire. Then there was one. Shortly
there is to be none.
Hamish Reid the proprietor cannot
find an apprentice mechanic of sufficient calibre who wants to stay
in this attractive rural area in Perthshire. Most such young persons
have a strong preference to work and live in cities.
When the garage business was
offered for sale there were allegedly no takers, presumably because
the profit margins are too small and the responsibilities too high.
The price of petrol at the pumps is set by the suppliers. In rural
areas that price is usually a significant percentage higher than
in the urban central belt, which in itself is a disincentive for
the public to use them. Yet the garage provides a very useful and
highly regarded service to the community, which in the case of Comrie
amounts to some 2400 persons on the area's voting register - and
of course to tourists, be they staying in the area or passing through.
"Unsustainable" Comrie
Garage sold to a property developer
to be converted into 10 apartments
(To enlarge photo Click
Here)
Photo ©Kimpton
Graphics
There will be nowhere locally to
get an MOT, or a repair, or get spare parts. Yet a car is essential
for most folk who live in a rural area - even if it is just for
getting about in the neighbourhood. That is especially true for
those who may not live within the village itself, but up the glens
well off any route used by public transport.
The garage is to be converted into
a block of ten apartments by a property developer. When a village
the size of Comrie loses the prominent central feature of its garage,
it also loses some of its heart.
It becomes even more of a dormitory
establishment, looking ever more like highly desirable suburbia
for those who can afford it but who don't actually do any work in
the area. They just expect - nay, demand - that all local landscape
and other environmental amenities are provided free for their benefit.
Even more difficulties are created
for local enterprises to flourish. The nearest petrol pump is six
miles further on, at an awkward location on the far side of congested
Crieff. To take but one simple example, that is a long way to go
to fill up cans of petrol for the farm's quad bikes and for other
equipment. Just the time to get there, wait for service and get
back is a problem, let alone the fuel that is being used just to
do what should be a simple errand.
Also, if it is necessary to go into
town or get onto the motor way to get petrol, why not just keep
going with the car to conveniently do virtually all the shopping
for the week at some urban supermarket where prices are generally
much cheaper than those which village shops can afford to offer?
Comrie is not alone throughout
Scotland in facing problems with loss of its only garage. In some
areas of the country a Community Trust has been able to get support
for its local garage, but unfortunately this did not prove to be
successful in Comrie.
Rural Post Offices under threat
But the loss of its only remaining
garage is not the only problem for rural communities such as Comrie.
May be it will be the post office next.
The government seems to be
determined to take away from post offices a whole range of services.
You can no longer buy your TV licence through a post office. Collecting
the pension by the many elderly folk who live in such a village
as Comrie is also being removed from post offices. It is easier
now to renew the car's road licence online than by going to the
post office to do it. One can even buy stamps online in the form
of bar codes that anyone can print themselves given an ordinary
computer and a simple desktop printer. So all that rural dwellers
may supposedly need in the future is a pillar box - although they
might need a car to get to it.
Out of hours medical cover
Then there is the major problem
of adequate out of hours medical cover. While Comrie may indeed
have a fairly new medical centre at substantial expense, its clients
are at the mercy of NHS24 should they fall ill after 6.00 pm on
weekdays or throughout the weekend, not forgetting that there is
no local service on Wednesday afternoons either. Surprise, surprise
- NHS 24 has come in for intensive criticism for its lack of professionalism
that any sensible person could surely have predicted. If you are
so worried that you (or a dependent) may be sufficiently seriously
ill to call for medical help out of hours, did any one really think
that the services of a medically unqualified nurse at the end of
a phone was going to be enough?
Local schooling
Although the primary school in Comrie
is not under threat, this is not the case in other rural areas (1)
Work opportunities seriously compromised
Comrie is, I believe, one of the
wealthiest villages in Scotland, with many people choosing it for
their retirement from the cities, or as a commuting base, or as
a place to have a second home - not too far from either Edinburgh,
or Glasgow, or wherever. But what is available for those who actually
work the land or who try to establish other enterprises within the
rural community itself? The wealthy city person retired to Comrie
and who remains fit and healthy, can probably well afford to get
his petrol - and get the week's shopping at the same time - in Perth
or perhaps even Edinburgh or Glasgow. The high cost of travel in
his/her 4x4 that never leaves the tarmac is not a problem.
But a young person - possibly with
a young family to support - hoping to set up a business in a rural
village may well think twice about it. Apart from the hugely inflated
house prices, the declining services, including medical cover, may
well dissuade him from considering such a venture - no matter what
temporary start-up enticements the government may put his/her way.
Presently the Comrie Community Trust
has started proceedings to try to implement a Community Right to
Buy the Cultybraggan Army Camp. Two years ago the MOD decided it
was surplus to its requirements. Historic Scotland (a government
quango presently run by a civil servant who was previously head
of the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department)
took most of that time to make up make up its mind to list a row
of 60+ year old tins huts down the middle of the site, so that said
huts have to be preserved for posterity - at someone else's expense
of course (2). Such is bureaucratic power without
financial responsibility.
The idea now is to attract some
"economically sustainable businesses" into said scheduled
tin huts with no public transport in the area, no local garage,
the local post office possibly under threat and highly questionable
out-of-hours medical cover.
No wonder that Hamish of Comrie
Garage could not find a mechanic to assist him. Running a garage
single-handed must be little fun. Selling up to a property developer
is the only reasonable thing for him to do. For all the hype from
the Scottish Executive about "encouraging a strong and vibrant
rural economy" they have done nowt to help.
©www.land-care.org.uk
References
1. Linklater, Magnus
(2006). An educational multiple-choice test for McConnell.
This article, which was originally published in Scotland on
Sunday on 22nd October 2006,
is reproduced on Land-Care with the kind permission of the author
and the newspaper
See EDUCATION Homepage, filed 28 Oct 06, www.land-care.org.uk
Click
Here to View
2. Irvine, James
(2006). Comrie Development Trust starts its bid for Community Right
to Buy: the latest episode in the sad saga of Cultybraggan Army
Camp
See SOCIAL/ECONOMIC/POLITICAL Homepage, filed 10 Sep 06,
www.land-care.org.uk Click
Here to View
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