A positive meeting today with the lovely team at Hornchurch Station, putting to them concerns residents have raised with us:
LIFT ACCESS TO PLATFORM - Thanks to everyone who supported our petition on step-free access. The surveys have been done, the bid is in and the station team are quietly confident. We will likely find out in October but it looks like TfL might do three stations on that part of the line simultaneously as they are similar in build.
TOILET ACCESS - When the station is manned, the toilets are now open between 5am and 3pm. They are doing a pilot to see if those hours can be extended. The same goes for the waiting room. The trouble has been drug users in both, and graffiti. Which brings us onto...
POLICING - The team do their best but they are trying to balance staff safety with keeping facilities open, especially if a staff member is manning the station alone at a late hour. We are going to try to get more coordination and high visibility policing of the station by British Transport Police and the Met. We don't want fare evaders and thieves using the station to cause trouble in Hornchurch town centre or intimidating people using the station.
They are also trying to recruit into the TfL team - staff vacancies have contributed to the challenge.
The staff team are doing their best but as residents know, Outer London areas like Havering have never been a priority for Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Thanks to the Little Olive cafe for a lovely cup of tea and cake beforehand.
