Plans For Second Entrance At Hackney Central Station Move Ahead
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on the Hackney Citizen.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Plans to alleviate overcrowding at Hackney Central station are now moving ahead, with a decision by the Town Hall to provide a second entrance on council-owned land on Graham Road.
The article also makes the following points.
- Things should be moving on the new entrance on the North side of the station.
- Usage of the Overground went up 160 percent between 2007 and 2013,
- Usage is expected to rise 40 % in the next ten years.
- The original 1980s building was designed with a twenty year life.
Read the whole article, as it looks like the politics of the new entrance is all very complicated, but badly needed. Especially, by this traveller!
Will Hackney Central Station Get A Second Entrance?
Hackney Central station is a station that has been designed by that well-known architectural practice; Topsy and Partners.
When I moved back to London, the station was very simple with a crude concrete footbridge.
- It has since acquired a step-free footbridge with lifts.
- A high level walkway has also been built to connect Platform 1 at Hackney Downs station.
- Hackney Downs station is also on the latest list of stations to be made step-free as I reported in Hackney Downs Station To Go Step-Free.
And now there is talk of a second entrance at Hackney Central station in Graham Road.
This article on Ian Visits is entitled Hackney Central Overground Station Could Get A Second Entrance
This is the first paragraph.
A second entrance for Hackney Central station to deal with overcrowding is being explored as part of a joint project between the council and Transport for London.
And this Google Map shows the plot of land, where the entrance would be built.
Graham Road runs across the bottom of the map and there is a gap in the houses on the North side, that leads up to the railway.
I took these pictures as I walked from West to East along Graham Road.
Notice the sign on the site, which says Development Site Sold.
The Ian Visits article says this about development of the second entrance.
Hackney council and TfL have agreed in principle to contribute to the scheme and work together with Network Rail on the project. Initial feasibility work has started and ground investigations are expected to begin in October. Depending on feasibility work and funding arrangements, construction of the second entrance may start next year.
Doubtless the new entrance will be funded by the usual over site development, but it is on the end of a row of residential houses, so a block of flats would not be overly out of place here.
Ian also states that the land is owned by Hackney Council.
Could it be that we’re looking at a plan being put together, by a property developer bearing in mind, the wishes of Hackney Council?
- The Council have sold the land with conditions on development.
- There would be an appropriately-sized block of apartments.
- Some would be affordable.
- The block would contain an entrance to the station.
It would certainly be a well-located housing development.
- It would have a convenience entrance to the station, with trains every few minutes to the North, South, East and West.
- There are three frequent bus services on Graham Road.
- Walk to the North and you are in Hackney’s main shopping area.
- Walk to the South and you come to the Hackney Cultural Quarter that comprises the Town Hall, Library, the Hackney Empire theatre and the cinema.
I doubt there would be much if any car parking in the block and it will be difficult locally.
What Would The Station Entrance Do For Rail Passengers?
Obviously, it would help those who lived by the entrance, but it would also help other groups.
Passengers From The Cultural Quarter Going West
Currently, if you’re going from say the Town Hall to perhaps Highbury & Islington for the Victoria Line of Hampstead Heath for a constitutional, you have to walk under the railway, enter the station on the Stratford-bound platform and then use the footbridge to cross the tracks.
Wjen the second entrance opens, you would use it to go direct to the Westbound platform.
Passengers Arriving From Stratford Wanting To Catch A Bus To The West
I regularly come home from Stratford, after shopping in the big Marks & Spencer in Eastfield.
It is a tricky journey, as whatever way you take, there seems to be steps at some point.
When the second entrance opens, I will use it to catch one of the frequent 38 buses stopping outside the station to get home.
I don’t think, I will be the only person using this route..
Passengers Of Reduced Mobility And Those With Baggage, Bikes And Buggies
A Second Entrance on Graham Road would certainly make it easier for any of these groups of passengers.
Increased Services On The North London Line
Services on the North London Line are currently si-eight trains per hour (tph) and this frequency wil surely increase to reduce overcrowding.
There will be more passengers wanting to use train services at Hackney Central, making an additional entrance more necessary.
Conclusion
A Second Entrance to Hackney Central station on Graham Road would be a valuable additio to the increasingly busy Hackney Central/Hackney Downs station complex.
Draft Hackney Central And Surrounds Masterplan
Last week, I went to a consultation about the Draft Hackney Central And Surrounds Masterplan in the Narrow Way by HackneyCentral station.
If you want to see the full version of the masterplan it is available at www.hackney.gov.uk/spd.
About Myself
As this article will be sent to the Council Planning Department, I’ll say a little bit about myself.
- Widowed, in my seventieth year and living alone.
- I’m coeliac, which I inherited from my father.
- I always describe my politics as left-wing Tory and very radical.
- As someone, who has helped create two high class technology businesses sold for millions of pounds, I’m very entrepreneurial.
- My father and three of my grandparents were all born within the triangle based on the Angel, Dalston Junction and Highbury Corner.
- My father was the least racist person, I’ve ever met. I hope his attitude has rubbed off on me!
- My two grandfathers were of part-Jewish and part-Huguenot ancestry respectively.
- As my two grandmothers families came from Northants and Devon, I usually describe myself as a London mongrel.
- My late wife and myself partly brought our three sons up in the Barbican.
- My middle son talks of that time in a tower block with affection, so I’m not against well-designed tower blocks.
After a stroke, left me unable to drive, I returned to my roots.
My Views On The Masterplan
I like lots of things about it. And especially these!
- The prominence given to new workspace, shops and the creation of jobs.
- The creation of new housing, where I’m only against bad tower blocks.
- The opening up of the railway viaduct, so it becomes a feature. Network Rail get a lot of stick, but they know how to look after railway brickwork.
- The creation of a public square at the bottom of the Narrow Way.
- The creation of more pedestrian streets.
- Better use of the bus garage site.
- Improvement of Bohemia Place.
It wouldn’t be me, to not put in my own wish list.
The Overground
Truth be told, I don’t think Transport for London, thought the Overground would be the success, it has turned out to be. So the designers did the minimum they felt they could get away with and would satisfy their political masters!
But the London Overground’s success has been repeated in places like the Borders Railway, Electrification in Liverpool, new stations in Leeds and the Todmorden Curve, and it is now proven in the UK, that if you give the population a good train service, they’ll use it.
Now that the walkway has connected Hackney Central and Hackney Downs stations and other improvements to the complex are in the pipeline, I think that serious consideration should be given to creating a second entrance to Hackney Central from Graham Road.
Failing that, pedestrian routes should be improved, so that access to the cluster of buildings around the Town Hall and the Empire is easier.
Hackney Central As A Meeting Point
Once the public square is created at the bottom of the Narrow Way, use of the area as a meeting point should be encouraged.
Consider.
- Hackney Central is where two rail lines cross.
- The London Overground through Hackney Downs gets new trains in 2018.
- There are several bus routes passing through the area.
- Bohemia Place and the railway arches must have potential for specialist shops and cafe/restaurants like Leon.
- Leon was started by a Hackney resident.
Who said it’s all about location?
Learning From Other Cities And Towns
I travel extensively, in the UK and Europe and see both good and bad examples of how to develop cities and towns.
Recently, I went to Blackburn and I was totally surprised at the transformation since I last visited a few years ago.
A Landscaped square had been created between the station and the cathedral.The square is surrounded by a PremierInn, a new office block, a small bus station on one side and a pedestrian way to a supermarket on the other.
Hackney could do similar or even better.
Sculpture
My uncle was a very good sculptor and I feel it is a crime that works of art like large bronzes are kept in store because security and insurance is a problem.
However, there are places where they could be placed with little fear of theft or damage. And that is at carefully selected locations on the platforms of railway stations.
So why not?
Hackney Downs certainly has space for one, but the platforms at Central are too narrow!
Information
When I was on holiday in Iceland, every building with a historic connection, had full information displayed outside.
Is Hackney’s information up to scratch?
Other Thoughts
This is a series of pictures with comments.
Conclusions
Hackney Central has some interesting buildings on which to develop the area. Unfortunately, there is some bad examples of boring architecture.
Some sites definitely have potential.
- Could the top floors of the Iceland building, be converted into a Southern station entrance, with perhaps a cafe and a couple of shops that travellers like?
- Bohemia Place could be a nice oasis with cafes, workshops and individual shops, a bit like the Box Park at Shoreditch High Street station.
- Bohemia Place will be better, when the arches under the railway are opened up.
- The right architect could do a fine job on the M & S Building.
- The car park at Hackney Central station might be much better as a bus interchange.
In my view the key is Bohemia Place, as this could be a magnet for people of all ages, races and classes to come and shop and refresh themselves.
The Anonymous Widower 