Leyton Tube station expansion expected to start in August next year

Waltham Forest Council will provide £9 million worth of funding for the project, while the other £9 million will be paid by Transport for London.

The council’s final decision on whether to agree to this funding arrangement will be made on March 16.

The council can terminate the agreement and even insist on being repaid if TfL fail to deliver or take longer than three years and four months.

A report states the current station can “simply not function safely in its current layout with additional demand”, meaning regeneration plans for Leyton “would be put at risk” if the agreement does not go ahead.

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Speaking at a meeting in January last year when the funding was approved, council leader Cllr Clare Coghill compared the current station to “a well-loved teddy bear with its eyes fallen out”.

Deputy leader of the council and cabinet member for the environment Cllr Clyde Loakes added it was “essentially made of wood”, making renovation difficult, but would “come up out of the ground and be concluded very quickly”.

He added that all efforts would be made to ensure people can access the station while work was carried out.

The station will be expanded to meet the expected rise in demand by 2041, by which time the council plans to have built at least 15,000 new homes in Leyton and the surrounding area, plus an extra 30 per cent.

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Providing lifts between street level and the platforms will also remove a “significant barrier” to disabled and older people, as well as those with children in buggies, accessing the Tube.

Of the 14 Overground and Underground stations within the borough, only four are considered truly wheelchair accessible.

The council will provide its half of the funding using money from Community Infrastructure Levy receipts, which are charges paid to the council on new developments in their area.

If the revamp ends up costing less than £18 million, it will expect to be paid back half of the remainder.

The council has already made a £60,000 payment towards feasibility work on the project, which is taken out of the £9 million.

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