Merlene writes to local press expressing dismay at decision to postpone plans to make Shepherds Bush station fully accessible indefinitely

12.00.00pm GMT Wed 3rd Feb 2010

"Prior to the closure of the Shepherds Bush station to allow for the building of Westfield, Europe's largest urban shopping mall at £1.6 billion, local residents were promised a fully accessible station, including a lift, in keeping with TfL efforts to make the underground as user-friendly as possible.

I was therefore dismayed to hear the Mayor's recent replies to questions posed by Liberal Democrat Assembly Member Caroline Pigeon, that plans to make the station fully accessible have now been 'deferred indefinitely'. Tfl has estimated that a simple lift at the station would cost up to £100 million, though they were then unable or unwilling to clarify the basis of their calculations nor at what time those calculations had been made.

I find it incredible that Tfl and the local planners at H&F Council have allowed Westfield developers off this essential improvement that would have provided step free access for a significant part of the population: the disabled as well as families with buggies. To now inform the public that it was never within the scope of the works required of Westfield is hardly justification, rather an admission of failure and lack of vision and foresight."