The Shire Committee invited Tony Burton to its January 9th meeting to set out the case for re-opening and to report on the exciting developments this year, following the presentation of the Action Group’s petition to the National Assembly. He explained that the core of the Action Group’s case was the sustainable regeneration of Carno in the wake of the Laura Ashley factory closure three years ago. Station re-opening would make job opportunities as far afield as Telford and Aberystwyth accessible to Carno residents and would dramatically improve the prospects of redeveloping the moribund factory site. Housing development on the site would be sustainable, in marked contrast to much new housing in the county in the past, because residents would not be dependent on private transport.
The Shire Committee heard that Carno Station Action Group had carried out a detailed demand forecast for the station, which predicted that it would attract about 11,000 passenger journeys a year. The estimated additional annual revenue of £25,000 taken over 60 years would yield a Present Value of £900,000 after discounting, which was well over double the probable cost of a single platform station based on the Eastfields precedent. The way forward charted by the Assembly’s Enterprise and Learning Committee was the preparation of a formal business case and the Action Group were now going to work in conjunction with TraCC, the Mid Wales Transport Consortium, to develop this.