Watercress Line restructure to make it ‘fit for the future’

THE boards of the MidHants Railway Preservation Society and the MidHants Railway Ltd have concluded that the current working arrangements and governance are insufficiently robust to ensure the line will thrive into the future.

Both boards have accepted the recommendations of a working group, key to which is the proposed migration of the existing society (a charity) to become a charitable trust to be known as the Watercress Line Heritage Railway Trust.

The trust will take on overall direction, and strategic and financial planning for the Watercress Line, together with fundraising, outreach and education activities. It will devolve the maximum possible operational freedom to its operating company to run the railway within agreed performance criteria, which for the time being will continue to be known as the Mid-Hants Railway Ltd because it holds the Light Railway Order.

Restructuring of the organisation will vest the majority of assets in the trust to enable it to claim gift aid on most of it activities, which it is currently unable to do. The trust is being renamed to remove apparent confusion over its name.

Chairman of the Mid-Hants Railway Ltd, Richard Lacey, said: “This is no simple rebadging – it represents fundamental change to our organisations to ensure they are fit to meet the challenges of the future.”