Minyip fuel station project short $50,000

The town's only station closed after BP Advance sold Hopetoun, Murtoa and Minyip fuel outlets to Lowes Petroleum.

The new ownership required fuel outlets to adhere to a new Environment Protection Authority ruling that no fuel pumps could be on the street because a spill could leak into drains.

The changes meant the current fuel outlet could not operate at its existing site and was forced to close.

Minyip residents have been working to get a station opened in town at a new site owned by Graincorp, however the project continues to hit roadblocks.

Minyip Progress Association's Keith Daniels said plans for a new fuel station had been given the tick of approval from Yarriambiack Shire Council.

"We also have an agreement with Bonney Energy - a fuel distributor ready and waiting to install and service the equipment," he said.

"After about a year, we are now in the final stages with Graincorp to secure the land and the final hurdle will just be approval for the land to be sub-divided, which should be no issue."

Mr Daniels said the problem now was getting the project funded.

He said they were confident they would receive a $50,000 grant from the Department of Regional Development, but that was no longer the case.

He said they applied for the grant more than a year ago and had only just found out they were unsuccessful.

"We were hoping we could start work in August but the department has now decided that our project is not worth the $50,000 investment," he said.

"So now we have to find the money elsewhere."

Mr Daniels said the Minyip Progress Association started speaking to the department in May last year.

"We believed we were getting some money and that the previous minister was about to sign off on it - then there was an election and we got a new minister," he said.

The association was told officially last week that its application for the grant was unsuccessful.

"So now we are scrounging to find how we can raise $50,000," Mr Daniels said.

"This has put us back what could be another 12 months while we try to raise the shortfall."

Mr Daniels said the fuel station had been an ongoing issue for the town.

"We keep getting bounced from one problem to another," he said.

"But we will keep on battling."

Mr Daniels said the town was suffering without fuel.

"People take for granted what it's like to hop in the car and get some petrol," he said.

"People are sick of driving out of town and Minyip is only a little town, so every time someone goes elsewhere to buy something, that's money out of our community.

"When people go to Warracknabeal or Horsham for fuel, they will probably buy groceries while they are there too."

Mr Daniel said to buy fuel elsewhere could be a 43-kilometre round trip, on roads that were deteriorating.

"The condition of the roads make it a lottery that we will return," he said.

Mr Daniels said if work could start in August, the fuel station could be up and running by harvest.