West Hampstead Thameslink facelift

West Hampstead MML HST
Originally uploaded by Juliang's Pix

 

The rail improvement work which closed the London Overground through West Hampstead for 12 weeks has come to an end.  No sooner has it done so, than news comes through of works to be carried out at West Hampstead Thameslink station.

A new footbridge is to be installed at the northern end of the platforms with an exit to Iverson Road.  The proposal has been welcomed by the West Hampstead Amenity and Transport group - whose spokesman, John Saynor, is quoted in the Ham & High as saying it will relieve congestion on the existing footbridge and on the pavements of West Hampstead, as commuters move between stations.

However, not everyone is happy.  The Ham & High also carries a letter from an NW6 resident, Edwina Sandys, who says the work will damage a natural environment on the embankment which runs alongside Iverson Road and which is a registered Stie of Borough Importance Grade 1.  Ms Sandys believes the development presages a more ambitious plan to build a ticket office on Iverson Road, near where the garden centre is located and later a five-storey building at the junction of Iverson Road and West End Lane.  She is concerned that this will all but destroy the ecology at the site, which is home to bats and bluebells.

So the choice is between preserving one of the the increasingly rare protected natural sites in the area or improving the flow of commuters through West Hampstead during the rush hours.