THE West Somerset Railway plc board has dismissed proposals for a radical organisational restructure, involving the creation of a new incorporated charity to own the line’s physical assets, with a controlled subsidiary to operate the railway.
The plans were developed following the initial report by John Bailey in May 2020 on behalf of the Heritage Railway Association into conflicts and acrimonious disputes between different groups within the WSR umbrella.
In a statement the WSR plc said:“Although much sound progress has been made with our earlier financial recovery plans from 2017-2019, the railway has not yet fully recovered from the challenges of these years before Covid-19. “Attempting to re-position the WSR plc now as a subsidiary organisation of a brand-new charity, complete with all the attendant financial risk around assets, accountability and financial responsibilities, is not something that the WSR plc board feels it can support.
“The plc board is also not convinced that the proposals will deliver the anticipated full range of benefits required to justify the scale and scope of organisational change.