Council Report - 10 December 2005

First a correction to the list of Council Committee members published in the December News. Don Newing should have been shown as a member of the Stations and Lineside Committee instead of Gareth Jones, who is now on the Committee ex-officio as the new Chairman of Council. Apologies for this mistake. Also Chris Russell and Steve Thorpe have now been appointed joint Custodians of Society Model Railway Layouts.

Council approved the budget for 2006. Because of expenditure on Wharf redevelopment, expenditure on other capital items has had to be kept on a tight rein but, even so, the budget envisages a deficit of £37K for the financial year ending 31 January 2007. This should be just about manageable but every little extra in the way of subscription income and donations would help.

The Strategic Planning Group, set up to fulfil the request of the AGM that a five year business plan be prepared, presented their "Initial Analysis and Outline Action Plan" which was approved with one dissension - an initial paper will be presented to Council at its March meeting.

It is a year since Council decided to admit observers to its meetings. We decided to make the arrangement permanent and also gave the Society Secretary discretion to allow additional observers or late applicants to attend should accommodation be available.

The Working Group looking at possible improvements to the Railway Adventure playground at Abergynolwyn reported that around £5000 would be needed. Whilst some money is already available - including the successful collection at the AGM (thank you to all who contributed), I am sure that further donations would be appreciated. A further possible development is a storage shed at Quarry Siding. The Planning Officer has visited the site and saw no objection in principle, and Council agreed to a formal site meeting to discuss details. However, even if we were to make a successful application to Snowdonia National Park for planning permission, financial constraints would make it unlikely that work could start for some time.

Council descended into detail when we decided that the correct version of the new name for Wharf Refreshment Room was "Porter's Platter" (the singular possessive) - the Minutes Secretary pleads guilty to initiating this discussion. Following last September's AGM, we also agreed that the Finance & General Purposes Committee should propose amendments to the constitution on the election of Vice-Presidents for consideration by Council and, if agreed, the 2006 AGM. Continuing with the AGM theme, Council decided against any change in the starting time of the meeting, but considered that an elaborate special train service was not required, since few members made use of most of the extra trains. Volunteer catering was further discussed and a new pricing structure should come into force by the beginning of February.

The Reports from the TR Co Board and the Managing Director introduced us to "ROGS", the proposed Railway and other Guided Transport (Safety) Regulations. These will replace safety cases and exemptions (disliked by Brussels) with Safety Management systems and "responsible individuals", and are likely to create much extra work. Combined with the Government reneging on their promise to exempt heritage railways from a levy - likely to cost the TR around £1000 a year - towards the cost of the new railway safety regime, one gains the impression that politicians have little interest in our sector of the tourism and leisure industry and would prefer us to take up an Olympic sport instead.

Following a suggestion in Council, the Board considered the timing of Board meetings and decided to move the meeting held before the December Council meeting to mid-November, but to keep the other three on the Friday evenings preceding Council meetings (there is no Board meeting before the October Council meeting). The Board also approved the promotion to Passed Firemen of Robert Frost and Bob Morland and noted the promotion of Rachel Palfryman to Driver.

The late John Slater's Tywyn residence, Caxton Cottage, has been sold and the proceeds, £45,000, will be coming to the Society, with the estate very generously absorbing the costs of the sale. In return Council agreed to grant life membership to John's niece and nephew, Patrick Scott and Susie Neale.

Philip Sayers
19 December 2005