WHAT NEXT ?

There is a key role here for Lambeth Council. Investment for a major project like this needs a detailed and professional feasibility study.​

Feasibility study – get a GRIP!

For rail industry investments, Network Rail specify a standard process which is intended to minimise and mitigate risks associated with delivering such projects.

During the Covid period, a limited feasibility study was performed. But it did not involve any actual survey ofthe station site itself and proved, inevitably, inconclusive and unconvincing.

Jargon warning!

The shorthand name for this standard survey is GRIP — the Governance for Railway Investment Projects approach.

At the feasibility stage, the project moves from:  Stage 1. Output Definition - Stage 4. Single Option Development

At which point major decisions are required.​

That is what is needed now. We are keen to partner with Lambeth in drafting the wording of this study, including e.g. defining the scope of the project and the potential for the station extension into additional arches.

To finance such a feasibility study, Lambeth could employ Section 106 Funds already secured by the Council as part of local development projects such as Higgs Yard and Hardess Yard in Loughborough Junction and Coal Yard on Shakespeare Road, just to take three very local examples.

We also note that Lambeth’s current Local Plan commits the council to enable a planned increase in Loughborough Junction’s resident and working populations.

And we believe that Network Rail would wish the station to make a positive contribution to local life and to occupy its rightful place at the heart of a more prosperous community.

A key role for Lambeth Council in 2025

So we urge Lambeth Council to put their weight behind efforts to promote this important feasibility project.​ Failing this, nothing could meaningfully remedy the significant safety and accessibility problems at our local station and the overdue improvement in this neglected part of the Borough.