West Somerset Railway General Discussion

It would not surprise me if some board members of the PLC, are thinking along those lines, just as some trustees of the WSRA may have similar ideas about removing the PLC, As an separate body and having it as an junior party to the charity,
See, this is the problem with the WSR, It's just not going too be possible to do anything with the existing structures and some of the personalities in place at the moment.

 

Whoa whoa whoa Martin! Once again you're getting dangerously carried away. Bear in mind the WSRA statement on reform committed themselves to merging or folding, such that effectively the WSRA would cease to exist in its current form if that was the preferred outcome at the end of this process. That seems to display the opposite intent to the one you baselessly speculate.

 

Sorry i was talking past history, and one of the options was that the PLC become a offshoot of the charity .

 

One Company?

 

You'd have to acquire ownership first!

 

I tried to send this earlier but the website was down. Apols if it is now out of date !

Thank you, Ian. I was not specific enough. I agree that, as you say, a show of hands can be acceptable for non-controversial business. However, the problem that has arisen is that of defining "non-controversial". The disposal of major assets, cancellation of existing contracts and potential changes in direction can hardly be seen as "non-controversial" and should therefore be presented to the shareholders as part of the Board's report on the policies to be adopted for the coming year, thus enabling the shareholders to accept or reject as they see fit.
As I am not a shareholder, I do not have to the latest minutes, but I get the impression that the AGM is seen as an exercise in rubber-stamping the Board's actions rather than the opportunity for discussing and setting policy. If that is the case then how are the Directors to be held to account for their actions or can they just do what they like without recourse from the members ?
Mike

 

The "PLC Structure" cannot prevent them from standing but, unless they have already got their nominations in, they will have left it too late. Nominations for this year have closed.

 

Even as a shareholder, I do not have access to the latest minutes.

 

Ideally an AGM should be seen as an opportunity to communicate with shareholders including presentations on past performance and future strategy. However the business of the meeting on which votes can be held is restricted to matters included in the Notice Of Meeting. In the case of the Report and Accounts the vote is to “ receive” or “ adopt” them as the legal requirement is that they be approved by the Board which should already have happened.
So even though the Directors can be held to account by a grilling at the AGM the shareholders cannot change the direction and strategy of the business unless the required percentage ( normally 5% of the issued shares) have tabled a resolution within the timeframe specified in the Articles. The Company can require that the cost of printing and distributing that is born by the shareholders concerned.
Quite rightly stakeholders, particularly members of the supporting Charities and volunteers, feel that their concerns and expectations matter and should influence the direction of the PLC and its management of “their railway”. Where that works it is because a company recognises the need to keep its supporters on side not because shareholders can exercise their very limited ability to control the Board.

 

My apologies. By some mysterious quirk, or ineptitude on my part, my comments in reply to Dainton Banker have appeared as if they were his. Please read the comment starting “ Ideally an AGM “ as mine.

 

I realised the Mods must be looking after me! Many thanks.

 

Great to see on wsr dot org that 7822 has signed up to be based on the WSR for 2021 and 2022.

 

If only there was a loco already on the WSR with two years left on its boiler certificate. Then they wouldn’t need to hire 7822 in

In reality even with 7822 they are going to need to hire in at least one more loco. That’s assuming operations return to normal on the full length of line.

 

7822 has more than 2 years to go.

 

Doesn’t mean it’ll be there afterwards though does it?

 

Wasn’t that a reference to the 7F?

 

So no foxy at the living history weekend