North Yorkshire Moors Railway refuses to answer chief executive pay rise question after £90,000 figure revealed
North Yorkshire Moors Railway has refused to confirm whether its chief executive has received a pay rise after remuneration details were revealed in its latest accounts.
Recently-filed accounts for NYMR Plc show remuneration of more than £90,000 for its highest-paid director, understood to be chief executive Laura Strangeway, in the year to February 2025. The figure is almost 10 per cent higher than the amount set out for its last full financial year.
It comes as the heritage railway visitor attraction warned it is facing financial challenges and plans to rely more on volunteers than paid staff moving forwards.
A figure of £82,307 for the highest-paid director was recorded in the year to February 2023, with a lower £66,460 for the year to February 2024 prior to the most recent £90,341 in the most recent accounts.
NYMR confirmed that the £66,460 figure was due in part to previous chief executive Chris Price leaving in December 2023, before he had received a full year’s salary.
A spokesperson said of the difference between the £66,000 figure and the £90,000 one in the latest accounts: "This distortion is due to the way in which we are obligated to report this figure (which is not just the salary) and the change in CEO in the period."
But when asked a subsequent question by The Yorkshire Post about the difference with the 2023 figure of £82,000 and the most recent £90,000 and whether that meant new CEO Ms Strangeway has been given a pay rise, the spokesperson said the organisation "feel we've already answered this... and so won't be making any further comment on this topic".
Ms Strangeway, who joined the organisation in 2015 and was previously deputy CEO, was made acting CEO following Mr Price’s departure and was confirmed as the permanent chief executive in July 2024.
The accounts also reveal that £85,252 was paid last year to Insight Associates, a company founded by NYMR director Garry Mumford, with £82,836 paid to the same firm the year before.
When asked what work was done for these payments, a spokesperson said: “Insight Associates provides financial management and accounting support to the NYMR, together with the licensing for the accounting software used. This cost includes the services of Garry Mumford as Finance Director.”
NYMR Plc filed a loss of £278,869 in its most recent accounts, following on from a £633,118 loss the year before. Its non-profit parent company North Yorkshire Moors Railway Trust did record a surplus of £728,028 but this was driven by donations for specific projects with a £113,000 loss recorded for unrestricted income able to be spent in any area.
The accounts show three of the six executive directors of the company had resigned in 2024, while non-executive chairman Chris Gee has recently resigned.
A strategic report introducing the NYMR accounts, written by Mr Mumford, highlighted issues like higher costs of coal, cost-of-living challenges affecting visitor numbers and dry weather contributing to more lineside fires started by embers from its steam locomotives.
He said: “In this post-Covid world, financial issues will continue to dominate our operational effectiveness, as well as influencing our forward planning. Personnel issues, such as the retention of trained and motivated employees and having enough trained volunteers are also likely to remain.
"However, the changes to our governance and our revised management structure have significantly improved our operational cohesiveness and resilience, which will enable us to conduct effective forward planning.
"The strong seasonal nature of the majority of the group's trading activities means that in the period surrounding the accounting year end, the group relies on the facilities of its overdraft and management of available funds to maintain cash levels.
"With a strong balance sheet and the ongoing support of the membership, workforce, bank, other funders and wider community, this does not normally pose any financial threat to the group's ability to continue trading.
"However, the group has not experienced what might be considered normal conditions since the Covid 19 pandemic. Visitor numbers in the period are still being impacted and almost all cost headings have increased. Continuing challenges with income and costs are likely to impact us over the winter of 2025/26.”
Savings made from ‘Operation Blastpipe’
North Yorkshire Moors Railway says it is focused on increasing income rather than making further cuts after delivering cost savings from an initiative called ‘Operation Blastpipe’ last year.
The trust’s accounts said it estimates timetable changes and opening day reductions will help deliver £400,000 in savings “with the assumption that we will retain the same footfall and revenue as last year”.
It said Operation Blastpipe had involved a departmental restructure, with the loss of ten jobs resulting in a saving of £95,000, while services are no longer running on Thursdays and Fridays during school term-times.
When asked whether further savings are required to get the organisation back to break even, a spokesperson said: “The board is constantly reviewing costs and efficiencies.
"There are no immediate plans to further reduce costs, instead the focus is on increasing income.”