Bridge to Nowhere: the £22m public-funded infrastructure has been left hanging since it was installed in 2013. Now Network Rail want to wheedle out of their planning obligations
Angry residents are demanding that Network Rail delivers on its promises and drop a hare-brained scheme which would compromise the £22m piece of infrastructure at East Croydon Station permanently.
By JEREMY CLACKSON, transport correspondent
Network Rail has admitted that it is colluding with the council to dodge the planning conditions around the Bridge to Nowhere at East Croydon Station.
Poor practice: the platform link has been criticised for being poorly designed, as well as being embarrassingly incomplete
The £22million piece of public infrastructure has been without access from the Cherry Orchard Road side since it was installed across the rail tracks in 2013. The bridge was left incomplete due to cock-ups by the council’s planning and legal departments – at a time when Jason Perry, now Croydon’s Mayor, was the cabinet member responsible.
The admission from a Network Rail official comes as a public petition has been launched demanding proper, full access to the bridge and East Croydon Station platforms from the eastern, Addiscombe side of the bridge, including a free-of-charge pedestrian walkway to Dingwall Road and the town centre.
Following the decade-long legal stalemate with private landowners Menta which prevented the bridge’s completion in 2013, access has been all-but-complete for more than a year now. The latest delay has been caused because of Network Rail’s reluctance to pay to install ticket barriers at the eastern side of the bridge.
“We’re working with Croydon Council to get the final agreements in place to complete the public part of the footbridge, with a connection to the eastern side to connect with Cherry Orchard Road,” a Network Rail jobsworth told Inside Croydon this week.
But Network Rail has no intention now of installing ticket barriers on the eastern side of the bridge, to allow train passengers from Addiscombe to climb the stairs or use step-free access via the lift and then head for the platforms. Oh no: nothing so simple.
According to Network Rail, under their revised “proposals”, residents living on the eastern side of the station will only be able to reach the platforms “via the gateline at the western end of the footbridge”.
Yes: you got that right. Passengers are expected to cross the full length of the bridge, swipe their smartcard or ticket at the gates over by Dingwall Road, and then potentially traipse all the way back to the stairs or lift to the platform.
And they will be expected to do the whole thing again, in the reverse direction, when they return home after a hard day’s work.
“Only in Croydon,” one exasperated Addiscombe resident told Inside Croydon.
“The extraordinary thing is that the council knows about this ludicrously stupid plan, yet they don’t appear prepared to stand up for simple commonsense, and in the interests of residents, and insist that Network Rail finishes the job properly with ticketing facilities at Cherry Orchard Road.
“What’s worse, from what Network Rail is saying, Mayor Perry and the council are actively working together on this hare-brained scheme.”
Design class: diagrams for the 2012 planning application show that the originalintention was for rail passengers to be able to access or exit at either end of the East Croydon Station bridge
Addiscombe residents have been aware of Network Rail and the council’s sneaky little plan since a public meeting last summer, the East Croydon Community Organisation’s annual meeting, where a Network Rail bigwig told astonished locals, “Well, actually, we may have to abandon the ticket gate idea.”
Without any further communication with residents, Network Rail made an application in October to discharge several conditions from their 2012 planning application. In that applicatication, they made no reference to the fact they were proposing to abandon the ticket gate.
Former Addiscombe councillor Jerry Fitzpatrick, a member of ECCO, told Inside Croydon, “Let us be absolutely clear. The ticket gate was part of the 2012 planning application as can be seen from a drawing which was part of the application.
“It was promised by Network Rail. Planning permission was granted in anticipation and expectation that Network Rail would construct a ticket gate to the platforms on the bridge.
“Without that ticket gate to the platform, the value of the bridge to the thousands of passengers coming to the station from Cherry Orchard Road via the pedestrian bridge has been grossly undermined. It is like EastEnders without the Queen Vic.”
Compromise too far: Network Rail has confirmed it wants to fatally undermine themain purpose of building the bridge
Fitzpatrick notes the 600 public objections to Network Rail’s application to water down their original planning commitment. “A goodly number of those were from occupants of the Menta towers, who understandably feel very strongly about Network Rail’s apparent volte-face.”
The public petition, on Change.Org, says, “We’ve waited, putting up with considerable inconvenience from all the building at the station and traffic disruption, still having to trudge up Billington Hill to the station, taking far longer than necessary and creating additional stress for people with disabilities, children buggies, and heavy luggage. We’re still waiting.
“And now, Network Rail is saying there will not be a ticket gate at the top of the stairs when they open it in October 2025…”
“At rush hour, this will create a dreadful contraflow and crush at both ends, let alone unnecessary crowding on the bridge,” the petitioners point out.
“Network Rail should act as a responsible public agent.”
And as Fitzpatrick says: “It is not too late for Network Rail to do the decent thing and restore people’s faith in their service.”
Read more: Network Rail can’t afford staff for Bridge to Nowhere ticketing
Read more: After 12-year delay, Perry pipes up on the Bridge to Nowhere
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When we voted for to have a mayor, the idea was that a central figure could work for the benefit of all in the borough and have the ability to pull people into a room and get things sorted. It seems that Perry has not lived up to this expectation. He should get Network Rail and all other interested parties into a room and lock the door until they reach a sensible solution.
And while he is at it, what about the subway to nowhere? How is one supposed to reach the Whitgift Centre by foot from East Croydon station now that the subway is closed?
In case we forget, here is a list of closed infrastructure that a competent mayor would try to open:
Whitgift car park – closed on Perry’s watch
Whitgift subway – closed on Perry’s watch
Whitgift shops (many) – closed on Perry’s watch
Wandle Park café – closed for many years
Bridge to nowhere – never opened
Brighton Road cycle lane – removed on Perry’s watch
Purley Leisure Centre – closed on Perry’s watch (?)
Nice listage, Adrian
Thanks – I just realised I forgot various libraries.
No vision or passion for Croydon from the “leaders” of the town.
As an Addiscombe resident, I’ll begrudgingly take what is being offered rather than no footbridge for another 5 years while NR and Menta argue over the (in the grand scheme of things insignificant) cost for a gateline.
This isn’t to say that local residents should not continue the pressure.