West Somerset Association chairman steps down after implementing change
PAUL Whitehouse has resigned as chairman and trustee of the West Somerset Railway Association after four years.
He had held both positions since the 2016 extraordinary general meeting at which the recommendations of a hard-hitting report – The Way Ahead by the group’s former chairman Robin Coombes – called for previous trustees to stand down following an acrimonious dispute with the line’s plc board.
An association statement said: “Paul has led the organisation through the changes needed to implement the recommendations of the Coombes Report, so that we no longer carry out commercial activities, but concentrate instead on fundraising.
“Paul has been instrumental in bringing the various organisations on the railway into a closer working relationship, driving the movement towards ‘One Railway’.
“Paul will be very much missed and we wish him all the very best. Mike Sherwood has agreed to be acting chairman until the AGM on July 10.”
Paul said: “I have decided that the calls on my time elsewhere, particularly from my family, are too great for me to continue.”
Meanwhile, calls for two-hourly community-based services over the West Somerset Railway are not backed up by a sound business case, said the line’s plc chairman Jonathan Jones-pratt.
Main line business case
In the wake of the Government pledging £500 million to look at unravelling the Beeching cuts, local rail campaigner Minehead Rail Link Group (MRLG) which wants to see regular commuter and shopper services from the resort to Taunton has asked Somerset County Council for a face-toface meeting over the issue.
A letter signed by group secretary and district councillor Benet Allen said that some of the existing Cardiff to Taunton services could be extended to Minehead, bringing more visitors to the area and better connections to the Butlins holiday camp, as well as serving local residents and taking cars off the road.
The letter states: “The West Somerset Railway is currently in a desperate financial situation and is suffering from declining volunteer and passenger numbers.
“The community rail service we seek could be the lifeline it needs to secure its very survival.”
However, Jonathan commented: “I haven’t seen a business case that shows this stacks up.
“Where are the numbers that show this would work?”
“We currently operate under the Light Railway Order. To run the service MRLG is proposing, at the speeds it is proposing, would require a huge overhaul of much of our infrastructure to bring it up to the standards required for running a Network Rail service.
“That alone could cost between £20 million and £30 million.”
He said that the ground-breaking shuttle services from Taunton to Bishops Lydeard trialled with Great Western railway last summer would be a far more viable option, which would not have a detrimental impact on the heritage aspect of the line.