Since they were elected Richard and Heather have campaigned for the opening of the side entrance to Sutton station. We are now reasonably certain that this ambition will be realised by next February.

On 10 September Richard attended the Project Board for the Sutton Gateway Project. This project is designed to improve the “Gateway to Sutton” from the south, along the Brighton Road and around Sutton station. The main elements include:

– opening the side entrance to the station

– further development of the facilities for cyclists

– re-design of the steep steps up to the side entrance so they are at an acceptable angle

– better landscaping, street furniture and paving around this area and the station entrance area.

 The station manager confirmed that the side entrance would be manned from 7am to 7pm and at other times open but monitored on screens at the front entrance.

Richard says “For twenty years of my life I commuted into London for work, walking every morning past the barricaded and barriered side entrance round to the front to catch (or just miss) my train, and in the evening – since the station is officially classified as overcrowded – shuffling in a mass of people to get out the front. All our local residents who commute to London, walking down Wellesley Road from the east end of the Ward, will benefit from the overdue decision to open the side entrance. And it will benefit all those who arrive at Sutton station to work in The Quadrant.”

The project will also involve some re-design of the Cedar Road junction, long a concern of ours, and a “stakeholder group” to include trepresntatives of the South Sutton Neighbourhood Association and the Highfields Residents’ Association will be asked to comment on design issues.