Sunday 29 November 2015

New Crossrail 2 Consultation

Transport for London are conducting another consultation on Crossrail 2.

The question relevant to Kings Road / Chelsea is question 20.

The consultation is available online here:

https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/crossrail2/october2015/consultation

The consultation closes on the 8th of January 2016.

There is still no indication as to precisely where on the Kings Road the station would be located.

TfL Feasibility Study

Transport for London carried out and published a feasibility study in October.

The results of the feasibility study are summarised in the table below:

Table 1a (click to zoom in) 

Table 1b (click to zoom in)

It is clear that the final site of the proposed station has yet to be determined.

Sunday 21 June 2015

Comments in the Press

There are concerns with regard to the recent comments made in the press by those campaigning against the construction of a Crossrail 2 station on the site of Chelsea Fire Station.

From the London Weekly News:

"… residents spearheading the grassroots campaign accused the council of performing a “complete volte face” on previously-agreed plans for a site in West Chelsea near the Cremorne Estate and misleading residents for the sake of an “extravagant and wasteful scheme”."


Regret is being expressed that a station has not been built in West Chelsea near the Cremorne Estate.


Claims have also been made with regard to the Council's own consultation which are misleading:


"It was revealed that “only 32 per cent” of residents had backed the proposals for a station on the fire station site when consulted by the council, with the rest calling for no station at all or one in the west."


But our own analysis of the data collected by the Council during its own consultation exercise into Crossrail 2 carried out between May and August 2013 suggests that 59%, not 32%, supported the proposal to locate the station on the site of the Chelsea Fire Station.


The article from the London Weekly News can be downloaded here.


The article from Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster Today can be downloaded here.

New Plan for Crossrail brings back the Dame's Wartime Memories

An article recently appeared on the Hornet in relation to a new potential site for the Crossrail 2 station in Chelsea:

Following on from last week's rather interesting meeting of the "No Crossrail in Chelsea" campaign at Chelsea Old Town Hall the Dame's spies tell her that nefarious activity is once again afoot.

Word has reached the Dame that some of those opposing the station are no longer suggesting that Chelsea doesn't need a station, merely that it should go elsewhere. Not in their back yard, someone else's. We have been here before.

They are telling anyone who'll listen that the station should be relocated to the site of the old Chelsea and Fulham railway station, between the Kings Road and Fulham Road, just south of Stamford Bridge.

Being a bit of an old wartime bird the Dame does recall the old Chelsea and Fulham railway station. Nice as it was it was closed after being bombed in the war and never reopened.

Now the Dame doesn't know much about trains but those who do don't seem to think that this a particularly good idea.

The site is apparently too far to the west. TfL has previously rejected suggestions to locate the Crossrail 2 station near Imperial Wharf, claiming the route from Clapham to Victoria would then be too long and the curve of the line too great. A proposal where the line would end up even longer and the curve even greater would appear to have no legs.

And the old Chelsea and Fulham station was built upon long ago. 




There is Council housing to the west of the railway line, the Wandon Estate in Wandon Road, and a private development to the east, the Kings development at 552 Kings Road.

Given last summer's events any proposal that results in the loss of homes is risky at best, foolish at worst. It is only a matter of time before accusations of social cleansing and shipping people to Dagenham start to fly.

The Dame's spies are baffled as to why those who oppose the station don't stick to opposing the station, exactly as they had proposed at their meeting. That, at least, is a plan that all of Chelsea's residents might be convinced to support. Sneakily trying to stick it in someone else's back yard (again) isn't. 


The original story is at: http://fromthehornetsnest.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/new-plan-for-crossrail-brings-back.html

The story had attracted over 140 comments at the time of writing. 

A second story has since appeared on the Hornet: "Crossrail 2 ... the last word".

Saturday 6 June 2015

Our campaign

We attended the meeting on Tuesday evening at Chelsea Old Town Hall organised by those objecting to the proposed construction of the station on the site of Chelsea Fire Station.

We listened to what the panel said. We were concerned by the opening comments made by some members of the panel. We believe some of the statements made were misleading and erroneous.

It was claimed that people on the Cremorne Estate voted tactically to locate the station at the Fire Station.

We did not vote tactically. We did not instruct anyone to vote to locate the station at the site of the Fire Station.

We do not wish to be misrepresented.

Our only objective was to save our homes and local community.

We came together from all political persuasions and social backgrounds. Most of us were born in Chelsea, and are from Lots Road, Ten Acres, World's End, Cheyne Walk, the Cremorne Estate, the King's Road and elsewhere.

All residents have a legitimate right to express their concerns with regards to any development that affects their local area, including the proposals for the Fire Station.

It is not acceptable to suggest that the proposed station be moved back to "Chelsea West", thereby destroying hundreds of homes, dozens of businesses and displacing thousands of residents, many of whom were born in Chelsea and have lived here all their lives.

Saturday 30 May 2015

Alarm at comments by Chelsea Fire Station protestors

It has come to our attention that a group has been formed to protest against TfL's current proposals to locate the station on the King's Road on the site of Chelsea Fire Station.

They have organised a public meeting and have spoken to the local paper. A story recently appeared on the front page of "Kensington and Chelsea News" on the 28th of May.

We are alarmed at the suggestion that the Crossrail 2 station should be located in West Chelsea. The TfL consultation correctly concluded that it was the most disruptive option and least supported by local residents.

Cllr. Tim Coleridge, Cabinet Member for Planning, quite rightly states that 500 homes would be demolished and that this was deemed unacceptable.

We were assured by our MP Greg Hands on the 8th December 2014 that: "the option for a station at "Chelsea West" has been definitively ruled out by both Kensington and Chelsea and Council and by Crossrail."