AGENDA ITEM NO.11

REPORT TO:Executive Board

REPORT NO:CEnO/04/11

DATE:01 February2011

LEAD MEMBER:Councillor David A Bithell

(Environment and Transport)

LEAD OFFICER:Chief Environment Officer

CONTACT OFFICER:Darren Williams (Tel: 729629)

SUBJECT:Wrexham, Shropshire and Marylebone Train Company

Termination of the Wrexham –London Rail Service

WARD:All

  1. PURPOSE OF THE REPORT

For Members to consider the impacts resulting from the withdrawal of the direct Wrexham to London rail service.

2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2.1On Wednesday 26 January 2011 the Wrexham, Shropshire and Marylebone (WSMR) train company announced that it was to withdraw Wrexham’s only direct service to London as from Friday 28 January 2011.

2.2The withdrawal of the service will have a significant impact on transport provision in and through Wrexham and to those staff and services directly supporting its provision.

2.3The loss of this service will have knock on impacts upon the future operation of Wrexham General Station, interconnecting rail services and other supplementary services.

  1. RECOMMENDATIONS

That Membersconsider what support and further action can be taken to mitigate as far as possible the impacts resulting from the withdrawal of this vital rail service.

REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

Strategic rail services are vital to Wrexham’s transport infrastructure and help to support and promote economic development and prosperity.

John Bradbury

Chief Environment Officer

4.BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Background

4.1This matter has not been considered by a Scrutiny Committee. This matter is being considered by Executive Board Members as an emergency item under Regulation 5 (4) (b) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Decisions, Documents and Meetings) (Wales) Regulations 2001.

4.2Wrexham and Shropshire was launched in April 2008, restoring direct train services between Wrexham, Shropshire and London. Originally operating five services a day, this was subsequently reduced to four trains in 2009 and down to three by 2010 in attempts to bridge the gap between income revenues and operating costs.

4.3The service operated outside the usual franchised services under an ’Open Access Agreement’. These services receive no subsidy and are identified by operators in response to market demands.

4.4On Wednesday 26 January 2011, the Wrexham, Shropshire and Marylebone (WSMR) train company announced that it was to withdraw Wrexham’sonly direct service to Londonas from Friday 28 January 2011. The company have cited the unprecedented economic environment as a contributing factor and despite efforts to increase passenger numbers, the company has determined that the service has no prospect of reaching profitability. In 2010, loses were reported to be £2.9 million.

4.5The withdrawal of the service will have a significant impact on transport provision in and through Wrexham and to those staff and services directly supporting its provision. 55 staff are directly employed on the service and these will now lose their roles although alternative opportunities within the rail industry are being sought.

4.6The loss of this service will have knock on impacts upon the future operation of Wrexham General Station, interconnecting rail services and those supplementary services (eg Café, Taxi operators, Bus services) associated with it.

4.7The reintroduction of direct rail services to/from London Marylebone Street Station was a significant boost for Wrexham County Borough. In addition to the direct jobs that were created by the service, the fact that the town was recognised as a direct destination from London had immeasurable benefits. Getting the county borough recognised as a viable business location is a challenging task but services such as this which promoted the name are extremely beneficial.

4.8The railway company enjoyed a close working relationship with the Council and directly supported many promotional events such as Wrexham Business Week, events on Marylebone Station (such as St David’s Day celebrations) and currently, Wrexham Year of Culture 2011. The loss of such a supportive partner is regrettable.

4.9The Council’s Economic Development department works closely with Job Centre Plus and Careers Wales to provide a Rapid Response to Redundancy Team (RRRT) which supports companies and employees facing the threat of closure/job loss.

4.10The support offered allows the department to:

  • support Senior Managers and Directors before, during and following redundancy situations;
  • ensure that staff under threat of redundancy access the appropriate range of support programmes to ensure successful up-skilling and re-skilling to help gain employment;
  • source funding for retraining – including the ReAct fund;
  • make successful interventions to resettle employees in local and regional businesses;
  • support employees under threat of redundancy to prepare appropriate CV’s and complete application forms;
  • provide a free professional redundancy counselling service for employees under notice of redundancy;
  • provide labour market information; and
  • improve employee relations by helping the workforce to focus on the future.

4.11The support can be offered to all those employees who are affected and this offer has already been extended to the company.

  1. CONSULTATION

5.1N/A

  1. SCRUTINY COMMITTEE COMMENTS

6.1 This matter has not been considered by a Scrutiny Committee. This matter is being considered by Executive Board Members as an emergency itemunder Regulation 5 (4) (b) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Decisions, Documents and Meetings) (Wales) Regulations 2001.

7. IMPLICATIONS

7.1 Policy Framework–Improving the provision of, and access to, rail services to encourage greater levels of modal transfer is one of the key interventions identified in the Welsh Assembly Governments ‘National Transport Plan’ for Wales and supports the Council’s strategic priorities (an economically prosperous place).

7.2Budget– There are no additional budget implications in this report.

7.3Legal– There are no legal implications associated with this report.

7.4Staffing–There are no staffing implications associated with this report.

7.5Equalities/Diversity –There are no equalities/diversity implications associated with this report.

BACKGROUND PAPERS / LOCATION / WEBSITE INFO.
N/A / N/A / N/A

- 1 -

- 1 -