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Brick curtain will seal off community from station
• AS a King’s Cross resident I am appalled at Network Rail for deciding not to build a footbridge across the station close to Wharfdale Road. The idea for the bridge was to provide a safe means of crossing when they finally close the entrance to King’s Cross station in York Way.
The footbridge would have gone from the existing north-eastern entrance to or close to the new concourse.
Network Rail committed to engaging with the King’s Cross community during redevelopment work by keeping us informed and by holding quarterly meetings with station stakeholders.
They have reneged on both commitments. A letter giving the news that there is to be no replacement for the original north-eastern entrance to the station was sent to a limited number of residents, not to the community as a whole.
I was only sent a copy because I have previously written to Network Rail about this issue. No further meetings have taken place with the community since an initial meeting on November 21, 2007.
Meetings with the community should have been scheduled by Network Rail in February and May of this year. Network Rail has failed to do this. Network Rail stated it would engage with Islington Council and its residents as, in most cases, we will be more directly affected by the redevelopment than will Camden residents. Again, Network Rail has failed to do this.
The King’s Cross community is generally proud of its stations. Not only are we regular station users, but the rich history of King’s Cross and St Pancras is part of our history.
We often appear to others to be an unusual community. For example, our nearest big shops are in the stations – it is in the station I pick up my prescriptions, buy a birthday card and so on.
The community has always borne the brunt of station development and redevelopment. I have lived here for 20 years during which time the stations and immediate areas have always been undergoing redevelopment, whether in planning or construction stages.
This will be be so for at least another 20 years, by which time I will be in my mid-60s – a lifetime.
By closing the north-eastern entrance to King’s Cross, a brick curtain cutting through our community will be completely sealed.
Pedestrians will have to walk three times as far as they currently do to reach the entrances of either station. We will be effectively excluded from being an integral part of our community and will become peripheral to it.
There are at least seven potentially dangerous pedestrian crossings in York Way and pavements of inadequate width for anyone, let alone wheelchair users and those with pushchairs and children. More crossings are needed.
The King’s Cross gyratory system is overseen by Transport for London (TfL), which has to approve alterations to road layout and this has proved to be a lengthy process. I am tired by the number of feasibility studies, traffic counts, reports and so on we have seen, the latest being a “walkability” review.
To date, TfL has not released this report and the King’s Cross community is left none the wiser as to its recommendations or whether any of them will see the light of day.
It is almost unbelievable that Network Rail would not go out of its way to ensure a good PR job on a major flagship project that will impact on a community of residents as well as domestic and international station users.
Yet this is what Network Rail has done. Throughout this process it has chosen a path that sets it against the King’s Cross community and this can only do further harm to its reputation.
SOPHIE TALBOT
King’s Cross Community Projects
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