Many thanks again to all who have signed and shared this petition. We are now up to 599 signatures and we now need an additional 401 to reach the next goal. The more support we receive, the more likely we will get the Llangollen Railway extended to Ruabon, Bala and Blaenau Ffestiniog so please keep on signing and sharing. 

One part of this campaign is to press the Gwynedd, Denbighshire and Wrexham councils to protect the derelict sections of the route in their counties to enable the future extensions. But unfortunately Wrexham Council in recent years have not been totally consistent in their efforts to protect all of the former railway track bed from being lost under new housing developments in their County.  

One area of track bed in particular that is at imminent risk of being totally obscured and lost is the site of the former Air Products Factory in Acrefair which sits alongside and partly over the former railway. There is currently an Outline Planning Application in place for this site which is pending Detailed Planning approval which, if granted permission, would allow houses to be built right across and along the land of the former Ruabon to Llangollen railway in the area that was once occupied by Acrefair Station (Details of the housing plans can be found on pages 41-52 of this pdf file: https://cl-assets.public-i.tv/wrexham/document/DC_Report_6_March_2017_Final.pdf).

However, this potential loss of track bed could be avoided, if at the future date, when the Detailed Planning Application is made strong enough wide Public and Political support could be collectively pressed onto Wrexham Council to support protecting the former railway land through the site at that stage as part of their Sustainability Policy to allow a for a future railway reopening - so all may therefore not yet necessarily be totally lost with regards to saving the railway route for the future return of the trains. 

Obtaining wide Public support to reopen the railway from Ruabon to Llangollen as a long term strategic aim is currently the task that needs to be campaigned for. As a first part of this we therefore strongly request Wrexham Council to protect as much as a minimum of 6-meter-wide strip of land along the whole of the former alignment of the old railway route through their area between Sun Trevor and Ruabon to allow for a future mainline railway reinstatement.  

To press Wrexham Council to protect the trackbed an additional petition has been made for that purpose. Anyone who have not yet signed and shared that petition, please do so in order to gain enough support to help the Llangollen Railway get reinstated to the mainline. Here`s the link to sign the petition: https://www.change.org/p/mark-drakeford-wrexham-council-must-protect-the-track-bed-of-the-former-ruabon-to-llangollen-railway 

I also recommend that you all email both petitions to your local MPs to get additional support towards safeguarding and funding the railway`s future re-instatement.