PLANS to extend Bala Lake Railway have taken another 'significant' step forward after planning permission was granted to upgrade flood defences around the town.

On May 19, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) acquired the planning permission needed by Snowdonia National Park Authority to carry out the upgrade works at Llyn Tegid lake.

It means that the major works can go ahead, which include removal of most of the 290 trees found to have grown through or on top of the current embankments, with their roots resulting in their weakening.

While it was said there were effective flood defences already in place, the deterioration of these embankments had resulted in the lakeside becoming more vulnerable to damage from flooding and strong winds.

While many of the trees to be removed are known to be infected with Ash dieback, NRW says that efforts will be made to retain those of “particularly high landscape and amenity value”.

This was, in turn, great news for Bala Lake Railway as it takes plans for their extension a step closer to reality.

In October 2019, the Denbighshire Free Press reported that the £2.5million extension project was given a boost after the Railway's trust bought the land from Bala Rugby Club for an undisclosed amount.

That land will form the trackbed of the extension of the railway to the new Bala Town Station, which is expected to welcome a further 60,000 tourists into the town annually.

Speaking after the recent news on flooding alleviation works being granted permission, a spokesperson for the Bala Lake Railway Trust said: "NRW have been a great support to the railway, agreeing to design and incorporate the additional civil engineering required for the railway to be laid on top of the defences along the north shore of the lake.

"As a result of a successful fund-raising campaign in February, the Trust is now able to enter into an agreement with NRW to pay for the additional engineering work and we can look forward to the turning of the first sod towards the end of the year.

"This work will cover nearly a third of the whole route and the Trust wishes to express its deep gratitude to NRW.

"With planning permission now granted for NRW, the Trust will imminently be submitting the application for planning permission for the full 1,200m of the extension."

Further cause for celebration for the BLR team is the news that, for the first time in 56 years, it will be possible to experience the sight and sound of a steam locomotive in the tow as the railway celebrates the progress of the extension with the Bala ReRailed event.

Guests are invited to bring their families along with them to the event on June 12 and 13 to see how Bala is becoming the new “Go To” destination of north Wales.