On 31st March, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) formally re-opened the Bala flood defences having completed their upgrade scheme over the last eighteen months.
As part of the upgrade works, NRW have carried out all the civil engineering work for the formation required for the Bala Lake Railway to lay rails once planning permission is granted. The formation for 360m of the 1200m extension is now complete. NRW have done the most fantastic job even filling the trough with the appropriate size ballast. Leading off the back of the defences the gradient has begun for the embankment that will take the railway down to the level of the new station. This is huge progress and very positive news.
Our application for the extension goes before the planning committee of the Snowdonia National Park on 19th April currently with a recommendation for refusal. We understand that the grounds for this is the additional phosphate levels in the River Dee Special Area of Conservation, which fails to meet its targets further downstream between Corwen and Chirk. The assertion being made is because this project is within the River Dee catchment upstream of Corwen, any additional visitors the railway will attract to Bala is likely (through increased effluent) to have a “significant effect” on the phosphate levels in the water. However, using the worst-case calculations with no mitigating solutions put in place, our projection is that the additional visitors to the area would only increase the levels by 0.044%.
With unprecedented support for the project at every level, from both the Westminster MP and Senedd MS, to local businesses and townsfolk, it is of great concern that those making the decisions are not necessarily balancing the benefits of the extension of our railway against the minimal impact that it will have on the environment. It is therefore imperative that to avoid a possible refusal, after so much time and money has been invested in the project (9 years and £1.4million), that the Trust be offered the widest level of support from the local community and beyond.
Therefore, the Bala Lake Railway Trust is asking for your help and support by making a positive representation to the Planning Committee quoting planning application NP5/53/576 via the link below:
https://planning.snowdonia-npa.gov.uk/
