Save the Melksham Train
Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
Has WCC gambled away 50 years of support for the TransWilts? - 7931/12796
Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Saturday, 11th October 2008

I'm not a financial expert, so I'm having trouble appreciating everything that's going on in the tumultuous world of the city, stocks, shares, and so on at the moment - but that doesn't stop me from wanting to learn a little bit and asking questions.

My understanding is that - as a general rule - the higher the potential return from an investment the riskier it is. So by investing 8 Million pounds of money in Iceland to get (as I understand it) a higher return, Wiltshire County Council were to a greater or lesser extend gambling ... and it appears that the gamble may not have come off.  So ...

a) Who in the Council was responsible for taking the gamble?  Was it their chief financial officer, Sandra Schofield?  Was it regarded as a big enough decision for Dr Keith Robinson, the Chief Executive to be involved too?

b) Does the council really have 8 million pounds to risk in this way? They plead poverty when asked to make a contribution of perhaps 1% to 2% of this sum towards providing decent public transport links across the county, and yet they can risk the sum that's equal to 50 years of providing this service.

c) If the money is not returned, will the people who made the decisions to send it there loose their bonuses, and / or have to make any form of other recompense.  If you search around elsewhere on this site, and in local newspaper archives, you'll find that each of them gets a salary that you or I would be rather jealous of ... and that's before extras.


Re: Has WCC gambled away 50 years of support for the TransWilts? - 7931/12797
Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Saturday, 11th October 2008

As I say - I am not a financial expert - so I'm giving you a link to what the WCC site says about this:

[url]http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/getnewsitem.htm?id=2353[/url]

Statement includes:

[quote]We are confident this will have no impact on the immediate provision of services to people in Wiltshire. However, if we are unable to recover some or all of these funds we, like many other Councils, will have to review our longer term plans.[/quote]

So it MAY lead to a loss of services

and

[quote] This money is invested until it is needed to ensure we get the best possible income for the people in Wiltshire.[/quote]

Whilst this may be the intent, at present it appears that what was intended and what has actually happened are direct opposites.

[quote]Wiltshire is joining with the Local Government Association in backing their call to Central Government that Council Assets are protected in the same way as individuals savings deposits have been.[/quote]

"We would like the government to bail us out" ... which I think would just be more taxpayer's money.  I'm presuming that the decisions to invest in Iceland were properly taken by WCC, where there are a number of very well paid experts in matters financial.

My personal opinion: It's one thing asking the government to help "Joe Public" who hadn't realised, perhaps, the risks he was taking, and quite a different matter to ask another Joe Public (who has probably NOT lost anything personally in Iceland) and who works hard to earn a decent salary to bail out the gamblers at County Hall.  However, having screwed up it might in the end be a wise decision to bale 'em out ... and consider a team change?



Re: Has WCC gambled away 50 years of support for the TransWilts? - 7931/12813
Written by Lee on Tuesday, 21st October 2008

Wiltshire County Council could get back only a third of the

Re: Has WCC gambled away 50 years of support for the TransWilts? - 7931/12826
Written by tramway on Thursday, 30th October 2008

[quote author=Graham Ellis link=topic=7931.msg12796#msg12796 date=1223711016]
My understanding is that - as a general rule - the higher the potential return from an investment the riskier it is. So by investing 8 Million pounds of money in Iceland ......
[/quote]

I think it should have been either Lidl or Aldi, at least they are local.  ;)

 
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Save the Train was the campaign to bring an approriate train service back to and through Melksham.

Most big contributors are still around writing at the Coffee shop forum where new members are very welcome.

The train has been saved - sort of - we have stepped back up from an unusable service to a poorish one but it's doing very well. We did that through setting up the TransWilts Community Rail Partnership. That fulfilled its early objectives; it has been taken over by local and regional government types who are now doing medium and long term work. The team from this forun can also be found at the Melksham Rail User Group (which was the Melksham Rail Development Group at the time these articles were written and we had no users.

We mustn't loose sight, though, that the train service remains poor and needs our community support in marketing and campaigning to keep it going in a positive direction ... and all the more so when we're expecting to find a different normallity once we get out of the Coronavirus Pandemic and head for zero carbon via the climate crisis. Yes, it's saved ... it's now a key community facility ... the need for enhancement and the strong and near-universal local support remain, and the rail industry and goverment remain slow to move and provide the enhancements even to level us up with other towns. Please support the Melksham Rail User Group - now very much in partnership rather than protest with the rail industry and local government, including GWR, TransWilts and unitary and town councils. And please use the trains and buses, and cycle and walk when you can.

-- Graham Ellis, (webmaster), February 2021


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