Plans for a £740,000 entrance at Sutton train station (From Sutton Guardian)

Plans for a £740,000 entrance at Sutton train station will allow direct access to Quadrant House

4:50pm Thursday 10th January 2013 in News By Sophia Sleigh, Reporter

Sutton train station looks set to receive £740,000 for a side entrance.

The station has been earmarked for work on a new entrance to help deal with congestion and reduce pedestrian journey times between the station and key destinations.

Opening the side entrance will allow direct access to the Quadrant House office block which houses over 2,000 members of staff and the station car park.

The project, known as the Sutton Station Gateway Scheme, will start in the 2013/14 financial year.

The scheme could also provide funding to improve access to the station, bus stop, junction and crossing improvements at the front of the station.

It is all due to a bid by Sutton Council to Transport for London under the TfL Major Projects scheme.

Councillor Jill Whitehead, chair of the environment and neighbourhoods committee, said: “It’s great for the borough that we have had such a positive outcome to what has proved to be a long-running campaign.

“This would be good news for commuters who travel to and from Sutton on a daily basis as it will give them easier access to the station and improve the surrounding area and frontage in The Quadrant."

Councillor Richard Clifton added: "This project, if it goes ahead, will help our local residents who use the station every day by giving them more direct access."

The existing side entrance was created over ten years ago with a retractable shutter which is only opened when rail replacement buses are used during engineering work. 

Network Rail and Southern Rail have supported the scheme in principle and have also assisted with the council’s preparations for its business case. However, further discussions are being held to secure funding from them for the entrance work.