Lea Bridge Road Station - more delays

Hi Stella,
Thanks for this. I have shared it with two groups on Facebook and with Save Lea Marshes email group. It has come back to me in other shares and forwards by local residents and groups. People are hopping mad about it.

The alarming thing, is that the information about the start and finish dates of the station re-opening given in Chris Robbins' letter is markedly later than those reported by Council officers at our recent 4th February Lea Bridge Ward Community Forum. Although the reason for the delay (objections by the rail freight interests) is common to both the Leader's version and that of his senior officers, the difference in the dates quoted by each defies any logical explanation.
We were told at the meeting that work would start in April 2015 and the re-opening would take place in Spring 2016 - whereas Cllr Robbins only a few days later states that work cannot start until August 2015 with the re-opening being in late 2016. This implies a four-month difference in the start date and a possible nine-month delay in completion. This is on top of an already existing one-year delay.

I suspect that somewhere someone does not know what they are doing. The Council appears to be quite out of its depth in commissioning the transport authorities with the re-opening of a minor (but crucial) station.

The planning process is of course a complex matter but it seems to have been done in an incremental rather than strategic way. 
It is difficult to imagine that there has been a proper critical path process with key elements that might take time (eg, we were told by Council officers at the meeting, the intricacies of rail freight company requirements) being started earlier rather than later. I note:

• The rail freight companies have no stake in the timeliness of the project - there is at present no use of the line by freight.
• The reports of land heave, then the Japanese Knotweed infesting the platforms were identified late in the initial process and came after a first survey agreed by WF Council had been compiled by someone at a desk in City Hall who had never set foot in Leyton.
• The consultations at regional level seem to have been upstaged by the higher-profile investigations on Cross Rail 2.
• The consultation with freight companies should surely have been concurrent with all this, rather than consecutive.

I urge you to challenge Cllr Robbins on these points and lobby in the region and nationally for pressure to be put on the freight interests to conclude matters well before August.
I have copied in Jenette Arnold's office and Jenny Jones.

Regards,

Claire Weiss
Resident E10.