Corwen Extension

Don't expect any cash input from Lord Newborough or any of his ilk. The Duke of Westminster has been our President for many years but has not invested any money to my knowledge, despite the fact that he probably makes the value of the extension every week of the year.

Bob.

 

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this cant actually fail can it?? am i reading things wrong or is it just a case of if it take to long they wont get the grant money. so they would have to raise all the money them selves?? cos that wouldnt stop it all together, just delay things while they take years to raise money..

And hereby is the tale of everyday railway preservation in the current climate. In my opinion we have been manipulated by political do-gooders. So now we have to pay consultants for this, surveys for that, We have the box ticking culture where each box costs X thousands to fill in but makes no real progress or difference to the project. It is all just a massive con to create employment to keep lawyers and hangers-on on the gravy train.

Just look in relative terms how much was spent on legal and consultants fees 20 years ago and now. Now we have bigger paperwork obstacles which require bigger grants which require more consultants which require more fund raising. Go on tell me that I am wrong and that this really is for the benefit of the heritage community. Rant from a not so old man over..

 

Have to agree with you! Political correctness , h & s, & the culture that it spawns, -'Oh better not do that, I can't make that decision, blah, blah' is RUINING this country.!!

 

Its not just voluntary activities - its every business in the country that faces these impositions by the paperwork addicted file shufflers from the Town Halls and Whitehall, and not one word adds anything to the value or professionalism of the final product - and they wonder why so much of our former economic activity is now east of Java, and why there is no employment for anyone bereft of a B whether it be A or Sc!

Its a continuing disgrace and disincentive to economic or voluntary activity which shows no sign of going away any time soon.

 

Will the government / WAG being in "purdah" affect the timeline?

 

An update on the Llangollen Railway's website, and if i'm not mistaken - looks like good news;
http://llangollen-railway.co.uk/129...Dee SSSI SAC, 2nd Further response to WAG.PDF

What does this actually mean then?


Lewis

 

well hopefully the previous negative news report has shaken some people up for the better.

 

Well at least that's the tree huggers out of the way.

 

I may just be excessively cynical, but I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if the WAG have decided that they don't really want to come up with the grant funding that they had previously promised to the Corwen project and that the final extension of the deadline to August 31st, while ostensibly casting them in a good light by allowing the railway five more months to respond to the WAG's additional demands, has been finely calculated to be virtually unreachable by the railway...

 

The LR has now started an appeal called "Corwen - The Final Push" and all LR members have been given a leaflet detailing the project in the recent in-house mag.

 

http://corwenstation-new.co.uk/

 

Who's doing this website??

 

An optimist !

Bob.

 

A guy called Keiran Morton. Don't know anything about him, just know that John Rutter mentioned the link on Facebook.

 

As there is a week and a bit left until the end of August, is there still any chance of the WAG grant funding package or has that been lost for good?

 

The local press are carrying stories on this today which provide more information:-

http://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/92386/funding-doubts-over-plans-to-extend-llangollen-railway.aspx

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/nor...en-could-be-set-back-a-decade-55578-27122901/

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/discussi...-wreck-steam-buffs-rail-dream-55578-27122687/

Briefly - the original grant offer of £1.2m is now no longer available. A grant of £500,000 has been offered instead provided that work starts by March 31 2012 - and is matched by the Railway.
The total project cost as quoted is £4.6m which would mean that the Railway would have to find £4.1m. A useful guide as to the practicality of raising this from within is that the Railway has sold only about 700,000 £1 shares since it became a PLC around 15 years ago.

I understand that negotiations with the Welsh Assembly (and others) over the Transport and Works Order were very difficult and prolonged and indeed there are still matters, such as a countryside management agreement, which have to be concluded before construction can commence.

Unless the WAG suddenly come up with another large grant (which given the current economic situation is unlikely), or the Railway receives massive donations or suddenly sells a lot of shares (also fairly unlikely) it seems to me as though the current Corwen scheme is massively underfinanced.

Much as though we would all like to see the extension I cannot see how it can go ahead without a substantial revision to reduce the overall cost, which is, after all, rather a lot for two miles of railway line.

Evan

 

So what is actually costing 4.5 million?? because most railways need 1 mil per mile? is it the construction of the station? does anyone know the break down of the cost?