Examination of Witnesses (Questions 7227
- 7239)
7227. Chairman: Mr Straker, do you want
to call your second witness?
7228. Mr Straker: Thank you very much,
sir. I will call Mr Martyn Thomas. Sir, I think my learned friend
Mr Mould wanted to say something before he gave his evidence just
to set the scene.
7229. Mr Mould: Sir, I think it would
be helpful if, in the usual way, we were to put up some photographs
and just show you the location of Romford. Perhaps we can put
up page 18 please.[1]
Sir, the first business of the day relates to the proposed station,
changes to the station at Romford, and this is an aerial photograph.
You can see here the station which lies just to the left of the
arrow shown marking the station entrance. The station is in the
embankment which you can see there and the station entrance is
actually underneath the overbridges that you see in the photograph.
The street that the bridges run over is South Street and you see
marked just to the south of South Street the bus interchange which
is about 75 metres walking distance from the existing station
entrance. To the north of the station and on either side of South
Street is the main area of Romford town centre and, just going
back down under the bridges down South Street and turning to the
right along Atlantic Boulevard, one comes to an area of bus stands
which is marked on the photograph.
7230. If we can put up number 16, we have here
a plan showing the existing station arrangements and you can see
marked the main entrance to the station just from South Street
with the yellow arrow pointing to the left and then the existing
ticket hall and entrances there shown, the gatelines.[2]
There is a secondary access to the south which is shown marked
as "Step-free access on request" and that is very much
a secondary entrance. It is a sub-standard ramp, sub-standard
in the sense of the gradient, and generally there is a locked
door giving access behind the gateline essentially for cyclists
and for mobility-impaired travellers who can get in if they ask
the station staff to let them in that way. We show there again
the bus interchange and, with the red arrows, the bus stops and
the alighting points for the terminating buses and the pedestrian
routes which connect between the various parts of the transport
interchange at the station.
7231. If we can put up number 61 please, these
are some photographs and in the top-left hand corner, looking
in a south-westerly alignment towards the existing station entrance
underneath the overbridges, this is South Street that you see
and you can just see the platform canopies on the slow lines which
are the two lines which run on the northerly alignment through
the station, and the fast lines, as you recall from other Petitions,
are on the southerly overbridge.[3]
To the top right you get a view of the secondary access ramp that
I mentioned a minute ago immediately to the south of the station
and you can just see the ramp going up there to the door which
gives access to the station behind the gateline. Then the entrance
itself is shown and then you get a view of the interior layout
and it may be helpful just to mention that although this is a
very busy station, one of the busiest stations on the Great Eastern
main line, this is a decidedly sub-standard station at the present
time and it may be helpful just to outline briefly to the Committee
some of the problems.
7232. The ticket hall is a long, narrow structure
which easily becomes congested at peak hours. It is linked to
the high-level platforms by an over-complex network of ramps,
passageways and stairs, and you get a sense of that in the photograph,
particularly to the right of the photograph. The ticket office
itself is located at an intermediate level and it is, therefore,
necessary to climb a flight of stairs to reach it. Although the
station has recently been the subject of a fitting-out scheme
with automatic ticket barriers, that has tended to worsen the
congestion. Because of the narrowness of the ticket hall, it was
not possible to fit an adequate number of gates in, so passengers
descending via the stairs from the platforms, particularly at
peak times, are now forced to queue back to the gateline in order
to leave the station, and the various ramps and stairs are sub-standard
by any modern criteria for accessibility and that includes the
southern ramp, so it is a station that internally cries out for
improvement and that is what Crossrail proposes, so we will show
you briefly the proposal.
7233. If we could have number 17 up please,
what we are proposing is a new station building immediately to
the north of the embankment, and you see that marked in the beige
colour, with an entrance about 50 metres to the north of the existing
entrance on South Street, so somewhat closer to the main town
centre.[4]
You see that we propose a single entrance to the station at that
point. We have proposed the removal of the sub-standard ramp and
the effect of that is to increase the distance from the proposed
entrance to the bus interchange by about 50 metres, so from 75
metres to about 125 metres for pedestrians.
7234. If we turn finally to page 60, we have
a computerised aerial view of the station and you will see here
that the proposals comprise a new, three-storey ticket hall, extending
the existing station which includes ticketing facilities, automatic
gates, escalators and lifts, staff accommodation and passenger
facilities.[5]
The design satisfies the requirements of the disability discrimination
legislation with step-free access between pavement and platform
level. New canopies and platform facilities will be provided to
the Crossrail platforms, which are platforms 3 and 4 on the island
platform and platform 5. As I said, the main station entrance
will remain on South Street to the north of the railway, but will
be wider with better provision for a gateline. You can see those
points on this computerised layout and you can see the station
entrance to the bottom right-hand corner giving access to the
concourse area, and then the gateline is immediately to the left
and we have then shown different coloured, dotted lines as accesses
to the Crossrail platforms, platforms 5, 3 and 4 respectively,
and then access to the main line platform, platform 2, and we
have shown the MIP lift arrangements with red blocks either side
of the embankment itself. I will not take more time going through
that illustration, but you can see there that we have marked,
I hope helpfully, a number of other features of the proposals.
7235. Sir, that is a very swift run-through
of what is proposed here. I will hand over to Mr Straker. The
issue, I think, relates to the fact that the new station proposes
a single entrance to the north and, as we have said, we will remove
the existing secondary access to the south and do not propose
a replacement to that. I will not say more about that now; we
will be addressing that in the course of the hearing.
7236. Mr Straker: Sir, perhaps I can
just add this: that the issue as between the parties is that everyone
would regard it as sensible no doubt for bus passengers to be
able to access the station, the railway station, immediately from
the precincts of the bus station. However, Crossrail at the moment
indicate that that cannot be done. We would like it further investigated
as to whether it could be done. Sir, having said that, I will
then call, with your leave, Mr Martyn Thomas who has taken his
place at the witness table.
Mr Martyn thomas, sworn
Examined by Mr Straker
7237. Mr Straker: You are Martyn Thomas,
being the Development and Transportation Planning Manager with
the London Borough of Havering?
(Mr Thomas) That is correct.
7238. I think your post is within the regeneration
and strategic planning service of the Council's Sustainable Communities
Directorate and you are a chartered town planner with some 26
years' planning experience in a wide range of planning fields?
(Mr Thomas) That is correct.
7239. You have produced, I believe, a bundle
of slides which are capable of being displayed and which have
also been reproduced in paper form for the Committee.
1 Crossrail Ref: P75, Aerial photograph of Romford
Station (HAVGLB-14704-018). Back
2
Crossrail Ref: P75, Map of Romford Station Crossrail Proposals
(HAVGLB-14704-016). Back
3
Crossrail Ref: P75, Photographs of bridge, ramp, entrance and
ticket hall at Romford Station (HAVGLB-14704-061). Back
4
Crossrail Ref: P75, Map of Crossrail Proposal & Proposed
layout (HAVGLB-14704-017). Back
5
Crossrail Ref: P75, Crossrail Proposal-Preferred Option Aerial
View of Ticket Hall Architect Schematic Diagram of Romford Station
(HAVGLB-14704-060). Back
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