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Rail link public meeting
Published: 02/04/2014
Join the debate about improving sustainable transport and rail links in
Flintshire with local entrepreneurs and guest speakers this Friday.
Deeside Industrial Park Business Forum is welcoming residents and business
owners to a meeting to discuss the region’s rail infrastructure and the high
speed rail plans for Wales and the UK.
Entrepreneur and CEO of Deeside-based telecoms repair and support company
Comtek, Askar Sheibani will chair the meeting alongside the president of the
business forum, Lord Barry Jones on Friday 4 April at Days Hotel, Garden City
in Flintshire.
Speakers will include the Rail Users Association for the Wrexham to Bidston
line, HS2 Ltd Community and Stakeholder Manager in the North West, Raj
Chandarana, and Joe Rukin from Stop HS2, the campaign to stop the high speed
rail link. This is the only public event so far in Wales with two high profile
presenters from opposite views involved in a national debate. A question and
answer session for attendees will follow.
In September last year, the Deeside Industrial Park launched a campaign
demanding improvement to the Wrexham to Bidston rail route, which is
infrequent, unreliable, slow and poorly maintained, with no plans for it to be
electrified. The route connects Wrexham – home to Glyndwr University – to
strategic business hubs, such as the Deeside Enterprise Zone, Wirral Waters
Enterprise Zone and the Liverpool City Region, so could provide considerable
economic benefit to the area if upgraded. Investing in this and other similar
train lines offer an alternative, more localised way of upgrading the rail
network, and is in stark contrast to the UK Government’s HS2 plans, which aim
to build superfast railway links between the already well connected and more
prosperous London, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester.
Askar Sheibani said: “I am delighted that we are continuing to drive our
campaign forward to electrify the Wrexham to Bidston rail route, one of the
most important rail links between North West England and North Wales, at the
next Deeside Industrial Park Business Forum meeting. Despite news that the HS2
rail project should be accelerated, we remain focused on proving to the UK
Government the advantages of investing in local projects which address the
heart of the UK rail problem. Only by better connecting the areas that people
live in the UK, will we build a stronger economy across the breadth of the
country, rather than simply boosting a few, already wealthy, cities.”
If you would like further information on HS2, or if you would like to attend
the Deeside Industrial Park Business Forum’s open meeting on Friday 4 April,
1:30pm to 3:30pm, please contact Brian Chaloner at
Brian.Chaloner@flintshire.gov.uk and register your name.