Wrexham woman faces four-hour commute to travel just eight miles

A young woman who faces a four-hour daily commute to and from her job just eight miles away has prompted calls for improved public transport in Wrexham.

The story was shared at a meeting of the Wrexham Business Professionals group, who were told that revamping local public transport links are “urgently needed” to attract new companies to the city.

Rachel Clacher, co-founder of Wrexham-based Moneypenny, the UK’s leading provider of telephone and web-based communications and answering services for businesses, said she has come across numerous examples of public transport being lacking to meet the needs of employers and employees.

This includes a young woman from Wrexham who spent four hours travelling the eight miles to and from work.

Ms Clacher said: “She has to first travel by bus from Gwersyllt to Wrexham bus station where she has to wait 45 minutes for a second bus to take her to Wrexham Industrial Estate, in all it’s a two hour commute.

“If you add in the return journey that is four hours of this young woman’s time spent travelling, every day.

“The fact is that the service is not good enough.

“These are the sort of issues we need to address if Wrexham is to benefit from the opportunities which are coming its way over the next few years.”

The group also heard from the vice chancellor of the nearby Wrexham University, Professor Maria Hinfelaar, and her colleague, Dr Paul Hildreth, an international advisor on cities, regions and local economies.

The pair are the joint authors of an in-depth new study looking at the business make-up of the Mersey Dee Valley area – which includes Wrexham, Flintshire and Chester – both before and after Brexit and Covid 19 disruption.

Nearly 50 companies across the region took part in the study to assess how the make-up of the area affects the potential for economic growth, including how small and large companies engage with surrounding communities, business networks and local authorities.

It also went on to investigate how significantly the aftermath of Brexit and Covid impacted on the approach of local companies as the local economy cranked up again.

Dr Hildreth said: “Unlike cities such as neighbouring Liverpool or Manchester where everything is more cohesively integrated, Wrexham, Flintshire and Chester all have their own identities and strive to independently maintain those identities while also working inter-dependently to try to support each other.

“From a trading and growth perspective it faces a more unusual set of circumstances and challenges than most big cities. One of the main problems for employers and employees can be simply getting from A to B.”

The report also included two case studies involving Wrexham-based companies, cereals producer Kellogg’s and Unimaq, one of only three firms in the world manufacturing machines used by the aluminium can industry.

Professor Hinfelaar, who is retiring this year, said: “Certainly in both the case studies of Kellogg’s and Unimaq this was mentioned as being a hindrance to recruitment with many areas, including Wrexham Industrial Estate proving virtually inaccessible for anyone who does not have a car.”

Ian Edwards, a leading member of Wrexham Business Professionals that’s made up of company owners, managers and skilled professionals working together to promote regional prosperity, agreed with the speakers about the vital importance of improving public transport for the sake of the city’s future prosperity.

He added: “Our poor public transport infrastructure is stifling growth at a time when we have an unprecedented opportunity to forge ahead economically in Wrexham.”