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On 31 March, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) formally re-opened the Bala flood defences, having completed its eighteen-month upgrade.

As part of the upgrade works, NRW carried out all the civil engineering work for the formation required for the Bala Lake Railway, which celebrated its fiftieth anniversary last year, to lay rails once planning permission is granted for its planned extension. The formation for 360m of the 1200m extension is now complete.

The Railway published its plan to extend into Bala town centre in August 2021, and a year ago, completed the purchase of the land it needed.

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Birley goes on to point out that the Rail now faces its next major hurdle, as its application for permission for the extension goes before the planning committee of the Snowdonia National Park on 19 April. with a recommendation that it be refused. The grounds for this are the additional phosphate levels in the River Dee Special Area of Conservation which fails to meet its targets further downstream between Corwen and Chirk. As this project is within the River Dee catchment upstream of Corwen, any additional visitors the railway will attract to Bala is likely (through increased effluent) to raise the phosphate levels in the water.

Birley comments, “So while Visit Wales are encouraging tourists to come to Wales there should be a caveat saying Come to Wales but don't come to the Dee Valley.

“With absolutely unprecedented support for the project, it is very worrying that those that make the decisions are hiding behind legislation that has nothing to do with the actual extension of the railway.

“With absolutely unprecedented support for the project, it is very worrying that those that make the decisions are hiding behind legislation that has nothing to do with the actual extension of the railway.

For years, the fabulously beautiful planet of Bethselamin increased its booming tourist industry without any worries at all. Alas, as is often the case, this was an act of utter stupidity, as it led to a colossal cumulative erosion problem. Of course, what else could one expect with ten billion tourists per annum? Thus today the net balance between the amount you eat and the amount you excrete while on the planet is surgically removed from your body weight when you leave; so every time you go to the lavatory there, it is vitally important to get a receipt.

The citizens of Barcelona and Venice are working to restrict the number and size of visiting cruise ships.