Here are some additional facts to point out the possibility of restoring the former Llangollen line to Ruabon.

Now whilst Wrexham Council`s existing Unitary Development Plan (UDP) offers protection to some former railway corridors, it (along with their upcoming Local Development Plan (LDP)) needs to be applied to all railway corridors, but most especially all of the Ruabon to Llangollen Railway route due to its potential future Regional strategic significance.  

As I previously stated in the petition, restoring the Llangollen Railway over the 5 mile disused track bed Eastwards towards Trevor, for serving the nearby Pontcysyllte World Heritage Site visitor attraction, and onwards through back to the main line in Ruabon, and then eventually Westwards from Corwen towards Bala would greatly secure the long-term future and viability of the existing Llangollen Railway as well as significantly enhancing public transport into all of the local areas along the route in the Dee Valley and Vale of Edyrnion, re-connecting all the towns and villages giving local people and new housing developments much better access to the outside world, jobs, education, and also helping to bring in more tourists than possible by road to further boost the local economy. Therefore, the whole route, including the section on the former Air Products site needs to be safeguarded from encroachment by modern housing developments and other blockages to enable the future mainline reconnection. 

Although the original railway track bed East side of Llangollen Station has been encroached on there is still a suitably wide strip of land available hugging the riverbank along which a 'Deviation Railway' could be constructed to go beneath the roadside Council garden, and around the south side of the Lower Dee Mill Flats, the Cottages, the Bishop's Walk Housing Estate, and the Woodlands Health Centre to re-join the old railway track bed on the outskirts of the town and then run on to Trevor and Ruabon. The whole route from Llangollen to Ruabon was surveyed in the year 1999, and revisited again in 2006 and 2014, by Llangollen Railway. Also if you look at an article from the Daily Post 2 years ago (which I have attached to this message), towards the end of the article it mentions the Ruabon to Llangollen route being among the Welsh government's future phase 2 railway reinstatements which are scheduled to take place between 2025 and 2035.  

Taking into consideration the UK Government's current "Restoring Your Railway" initiative in which they are seriously evaluating and supporting a 'Rolling Back Beeching" policy nationally as part of their strategy for providing people with an alternative to car travel in response to the deepening Worldwide Climate Change Crisis, it would be extremely negative to Public perception if Wrexham Council were to unfortunately appear to not be sharing an aligned Regional vision and outward thinking policy to help form part of the bigger National future picture. The outside world and future transport is now post Pandemic changing/having to change rapidly due to the Climate Change issue and it would be a travesty if the opportunity to reconnect Acrefair, Trevor, and Llangollen directly to the mainline rail network were to be lost forever at such a late date just before such connection is required again.  

The other thing that is being missed by the present housing development proposal is the increased selling potential for the houses from a future reopened mainline railway link, in that a reinstated railway could have a station at Acrefair to directly serve all the adjacent new housing estate and give all the residents accessible rail travel within less than 800m of their doorstep which is the ideal basis for making a Business Case for new mainline stations as used by all other Councils nationally across the UK; including the recently reopened Bow Street Station on the Cambrian line to Aberystwyth. 

The Ruabon-Llangollen reopening is envisaged as being a simple mainline only single-track Network Rail railway between Ruabon and Trevor, potentially operating as an extension of the Bidston-Wrexham TfW service using Class 230 trains. From Trevor to Llangollen the line would continue as single track, but be a Community Partnership Railway with the track shared by Llangollen Railway Heritage trains to/from Llan/Corwen/Bala, as well as TfW mainline trains to Llangollen shuttling to/from Wrexham say at half hourly intervals all day with some continuing on to places west at certain times of the day. The Trevor to Llangollen section operating like the Whitby-Grosmont line currently operates in Yorkshire. 

The Plas Madog to Llangollen section of route could also have a footpath/cycleway laid alongside the reopened railway as there is enough width to build both alongside each other on the old double track track bed. The railway needing 6m minimum width between fences and the cycle way 3m minimum width adjacent. 

Another important thing to bring up is the fact that the reinstated Ruabon to Llangollen, Corwen, and Bala line could also potentially lead to the reinstatement of the Bala to Trawsfynydd line, which could serve as an additional rail link for the Blaenau and Trawsfynydd areas. These are only currently accessed by the Conwy Valley Line, which in recent years has been severely damaged by flooding and is periodically stopped by high river levels during winter months. Therefore, if the Conway Valley Line was to get flood damaged again or periodically blocked by high water levels, it would always be prudent to have another rail route in and out for alternating access, to aid the future growth of the local economy including the redevelopment of the former power station site in the locality, the latter of which might well part fund a reinstated railway from Ruabon as part of a Region wide economy enhancement strategy. Therefore, this is yet another reason why the whole route, including the section on the former Air Products site needs to be safeguarded from encroachment by modern housing developments and other possible blight.

Hoping now that you can see the bigger strategic picture of opportunities realised from protecting the former railway track bed throughout.

Please continue to sign and share the petition.