Brexit - What Impact (Negative or Positive) Will It Have On Our Heritage Railways?

As far as I'm concerned they can both whistle for the money.

Don't want the EU then you don't get the EU money (or any replacement), simple as.

 

I am a Paddle Steamer Preservation Society member & the obvious issue that springs to mind is the situation with Scotland & what would be the situation with operating a Scottish Flag ship in English waters?

 

Thank god for that

 

Those with pension's may find the triple lock is lost so they have less disposal income in addition to loss of income from Isas etc. I would agree that preservation lines are most likely to loose out as people reduce their discretionary spending. We are certainly looking carefully at our investments given having a young family and mortgage

 

We've just come through the worst recession for a very long time and railway ridership was beginning to recover. We all survived it, our various ways, but financially the country is not yet back at pre-recession levels. I think that the short term (2 to 5 years) effect is to that we will suffer the same things again, which will take us back to 2009/2010 type times.

I think that the "golden age" of preservation will probably go on pause for a year or two.

 

I'm going to come at this from a different angle. Many Heritage Railways (HR) employ people / apprentices etc. The EU do provide funding for the delivery of training to Small Medium Enterprises (SME), much of this funding is focused on local skills needs e.g. Engineering, Construction, the Visitor Economy etc; the idea is that funding will re-skill or up-skill people to give them greater job security, improve business efficiency etc. This funding is now at risk.

If the HR employs apprentices, the funding comes from the Skills Funding Agency; this funding is co-funded by the EU - again it's crystal ball time, so who knows what will happen.

One thing is for certain in the long term there will be no EU funding so there will be a greater expectation that employers / employees will need to fund this training themselves

 

My gut reaction is its not going to be good for the HR industry it's too early to fully tell what the effects are but these are the things we should fear:

Any recession is not good for the leisure industry.
Direct EEC grants will cease and the fabled £350m/wk will never arrive (and the NHS won't see anything either) so extensions/new schemes will be much harder to fund.
A drop in GDP will effect taxes the railways have to pay.
The continuing fall in the pound will increase the coal bill when it comes from outside the uk - Poland etc.
Increase in petrol costs (due to fall in the pound) will effect both your visitor and volunteer numbers.
Labour costs could increase with more demand in the craft skills area when some European engineers go home(although depending on the depth of recession the engineering jobs could also disappear?).
Pensions (tripple lock etc) will be under pressure and one of your major demographic of visitors will have less to spend.
The building trade is already in recession so the availability of contractors for building work could diminish as I can see a number now going to the wall.

I'm sure there are more but the above list is depressing enough.

 

This question was asked of Chris Bolt, Finance Director, at the WSR Plc AGM yesterday.

As part of his answer he noted that some components for new temporary buildings at Bishops Lydeard were to come from Germany and, because they were priced in Euros, would be more expensive.

However, he also noted that the fact of the currency shift might mean that more folks might take their holidays in the UK, both UK residents and those from abroad, so the overall effect was hard to predict.

Robin

 

Another angle: if the UK resident loses income they may reign in expensive non-railway hobbies and choose to help out at their local railway instead for a lower cost to them.

Some may also volunteer if they become unemployed, so although there may be less funding for capital projects and upgrades on heritage lines, there "could" be a resulting rise in hands available for the humdrum daily tasks that are so important to keep our railways running.

Just one scenario to add to the thought pond

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Universal Credit & Conditionality rules will be putting a stop to that thanks to IDS

 

I think there where similar rules well before Ian Duncan Shipman got his hands dirty.

Any extra volunteering will be of course be also limited by the non availability of spare cash from the unemployed to get there don't you think?

 

Holidays in the uk are always more expensive than abroad, even with a diminished pound that gap is unlikely to close. My prediction is that the day trip type visitor may increase and the weekly holiday visitor will diminish. This could be better for those lines nearer big populations, but not so good for those more remote. Sadly the overall spend is likely to be less, hitting those all important revenue streams of catering and retail. Time will tell as I said earlier.

 

A rather sweeping generalisation, perhaps?

I will allow that the 'lie on a beach in the sun' type of package holiday is, in general, likely to be better provided outside the UK but in terms of a holiday with rather more interest, the U.K. Has a lot to offer. Thr hard work is to get that message 'out there'.

Robin

 

It is based upon experience - the UK has a lot to offer ( I would say that living on the edge of the Lake District) trouble is Europe also has a lot to offer & at cheaper prices and it's not just on the beech I'm afraid. European holidays in the mountains which I love can be easily cheaper than the uk although with this f'in Brexit disaster that gap will narrow.

 

Then we need to examine why such holidays are cheaper elsewhere and offer something better, in the new economically-nimble circumstances we now find ourselves on course for...

Robin

 

Money grabbing hoteliers which have high profits using cheap European labour - oh hang on . . . . .

 

Certainly in Greece & Spain Tourism was part of the Countries Economic Development so they were keen to see high standards, unlike the UK

 

While it's not an option other lines can follow both for geographical & business reasons (I assume) there is no doubt that as a Tourist Business the Paignton & Dartmouth Railway is a great example