AN AGREEMENT has finally been reached over the opening of a gate which will give local residents more convenient access to Maze Hill railway station.
The locked gate in the Seren Park development has frustrated local residents who have had to take a long detour on foot to reach the station.
Providing access to Maze Hill railway station was one of the conditions placed upon the developers when planning permission was granted by the council.
A Network Rail spokesperson told Greenwich.co.uk: “We are pleased to confirm that an agreement has been reached between Network Rail and the developer for the gate at the station to be brought into use for Seren Park residents. We are in the process of setting out the main agreed terms between the two parties and will then instruct our solicitors to formalise a full agreement for the path to be used.
“At the same time, we will instruct Southeastern to install Oyster card readers and ticket gates at the new entrance. Once all these steps have been completed, the path can be opened.”
Local MP, Nick Raynsford, welcomed the move:
“After years of personally lobbying Network Rail and the developers of Seren Park Gardens, I am pleased that Network Rail’s Chief Executive, David Higgins, has now responded with confirmation that the path to Maze Hill Station will open. Residents can now look forward to using a more direct and safer route to the station, once the installation of Oyster card readers at the barriers is complete”.
Greenwich.co.uk understands that Network Rail is working with the developer of Seren Park and Southeastern to deliver the access “as quickly as possible.”
Has anybody that has been involved in this actually been to the station? There are no ticket gates or barriers, just oyster readers.
And I far as I can tell Seren Park residents can currently walk down the path to the current readers, the only extra distance is walking around the station office. I watched people doing it the other day. It’s not the big walk around past the Vanbrugh that it used to be when first opened.
Scott, the route you mention is only possible because the fence currently has a hole in it!
I hope that wheelchair users, pushchair users, disabled and elderly people at Seren Park will be able to use the route. There is no need for more gates or barriers, Oyster readers are enough.
“Providing access to Maze Hill railway station was one of the conditions placed upon the developers when planning permission was granted by the council.”
I’m not so sure of that. It was certainly one of the marketing points for selling properties on the development but there has been no indication of this becoming a public route to the station. I had a look at one of the gates the other day and it looks like it will be a key/swipe access for residents of Restell Close only.
When you look at the state of the route currently used by people walking to Vanbrugh Hill via the Potteries and the Vanbrugh pub, I doubt the residents of Restell Close will want people trashing their road too. And who can blame them!
…That there are gates at all also suggests access will be controlled!
So – um, all very well for the Seren Park residents. What about everyone else? Will they be able to use the South side gate?
Ticket gates? National Rail – are you idiots? There are none at Maze Hill now so why would you add them specifically for this entrance?!
I think better money could be spent on improving access to the Woodlands Park Road/Tuskar Street entrance at Maze Hill. It is awful and narrow!
I think that it is a bit rich for Nick Raynsford to take all the glory, as far I understand the impetus for this moving ahead was the residents of Seren Park combined with local councillors (and Tom Smith Close residents who were affected by their boundaries being torn down regularly and suffered noise and litter).
There has been a reconcreted pathway and two large gates paid for by the developer, that have sat waiting for years to be used. The developer believed he had bought the access ith the site, but found he hadnt and that led to an extended period of negotiation for access Seren Park: it is not a public right of way and is not adopted by the council, same as Seren Park.
This is very good news for all those affected, but there is no change for westcombe park area residents who wont have any access direct to the platform, as far as I understand. Seren Park residents can celebrate (when it finally happens), Tom Smith Close residents will get some peace and less mess and foot traffic and vandalism, and Woodland Park Road residents can enjoy a bit less litter etc due to less pedestrians. I don’t public access would be granted unless the developer is feeling very generous, or unless the council do a deal with network rail and create an access from Vanbrugh Hill right through the middle of the allotments…
@ Lara – i couldn’t agree more that something should be done about access from that side of the station, so narrow it must barely pass safety and disabled access etc? This is an issue for the council/councillors and network rail I suppose.
Q
There wasn’t a public footpath before, was there? Didn’t the nurses accommodation that preceded Seren Park also have their own private access via the allotments?
I don’t mind who takes the glory as long as it happens. Nick Raynsford has contacted NR’s chief executive (MPs’ letters tend to get replied to). It is however fair to say that local councillors, both Conservative and Labour, have been very supportive, together with council officers.
I do remember the footpath which allowed access from Restell Close to Maze Hill, and how I wish it was still there. Unfortunately I don’t think was ever a public footpath. The owners (British Rail, Railtrack, Network Rail) would make sure it was locked out of use for at least one day a year, to ensure that it never became a public right of way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rights_of_way_in_England_and_Wales#Permissive_path
Quite. What about everyone else? Not least those on wheels. After all, we had access prior to Seren Park being built…
I would love to have access, having got a bit tired of trudging round via Woodlands Park Road to get the station or the park. I don’t think it’s going to happen though…
I am wrong or has some of the path that used to be there some time ago not now been incorporated into the London bound platform. I recall seeing the new fence being put up and the path done away with and thought that’s it then
You remember rightly, Malcolm. There used to be a path adjacent to the London bound platform that was open to the general public, but was not a right of way. This was closed and incorporated into the platform, to be replaced with a gate allowing access directly to the platform. Lots of us would like access through the gate, but it appears that will only be usable by residents of Seren Park (unless someone padlocks it open).
As a Seren Park resident I take exception to the implication that any of us are the cause of rubbish and vandalism on the Woodland Park Rd side or Tom Smith Close. Quite the contrary, some of the residents and one in particular, go out of their way to clear the rubbish spending hours doing so. There is no rubbish or vandalism on Tom Smith Close.
@nutters
Increased footfall may contribute to more litter of course, I imagine that is what the person(s) whom live in that road may have referred to, whether it is people who live in seren park, westcombe park or wherever passing through. Some Tom Smith residents have expressed that they are experiencing more litter since their boundaries have been vandalised on multiple occasions, there isnt any proof or accusation as to whom those people are, as it may be people travelling through seren park.
I don’t think anyone is accusing Seren Park of that. The litter was there long before people moved into the development.
I have heard it was residents of Seren Park who made Network Rail clean the land along Woodlands Park Road and who also put up those improvised bins.
@ 16″ East
Exiting from the station tonight at 18.56-ish two blokes decided they didn’t want to walk slowly and politely like the rest of us and ran down the grass embankment and then jumped over the handrail! Wtf? And one dropped his mobile phone which I nearly stood on. Muppets!
But this another good reason for improved access to that side of the station…
Also, I think the new bin needs emptying a bit more!
Gosh do they expect a medal for coming up with this? What a bunch of morons for not arranging what is effectively the ‘opening of a gate’ years ago. A child of 4 could see have seen how such a simple step would save time for busy local commuters. I hate when glaringly obvious and cheap solutions to everyday issues like this take a bunch of Network Rail staff to hold meetings, produce paperwork etc…. just to approve something so simple. Why don’t people use their common sense any more?
@ Seriously?
You are so right, modern life has moved to a point of insanity and snail like slowness in getting the simplest most obvious things done.
In this particular case the issue was a legal problem, put simply, the developer thought they had bought the access for their residents in the way the nurses used to have. However, Network Rail argued successfully that they hadnt purchased the right onto their platform.
It then became a financial problem. Quite simply Network Rail wanted far more than the developer wanted to pay, and they spent years negotiating over it and have finally reached an agreement. Meanwhile everyone else had to suffer. Of course its all money, not about community or any of responsibility, such as The Greenwich Market redevelopment scandal….