By Anna Whittaker, Local Democracy Reporter
Long-awaited plans to install lifts at Beeston railway station and remove a 500m-long diversion for some disabled passengers have moved a step closed after Network Rail submitted a planning application.
Beeston station has two platforms directly linked only by stairs to a bridge over the line – meaning anyone who cannot use stairs faces a long alternative route to get from one to the other.
Campaigners say the plans will also help those with heavy luggage or a pram.
At Broxtowe Borough Council’s cabinet on July 25, councillors agreed to the transfer of a patch of land to Network Rail so lifts could be built.
Now, the rail company has submitted plans to the council to install the lifts.
Network Rail said in its plans: “The proposal for 16-person lifts at the station is necessary to ensure the station is fully accessible to mobility impaired people. Given the level of patronage at the station this represents a long-overdue improvement for passengers.”
Trish Roberts-Thomson, the chair of Friends of Beeston Station, has been campaigning for the lifts since 2017 alongside the group.
She said it marked a “really promising development”.
She said: “This application is a wonderful step forward in our work to get lifts installed at Beeston Station.
“We’ve been working for over six years so that everyone who wants to use the trains can get do so – those using wheelchairs, disabled people, older people who find stairs daunting and younger parents with prams and buggies.
“We do hope that this application will be successful. It will be another step in the long road to make the Station accessible to everyone.”
Network Rail said the plans would include the “provision of lifts and staircases with small modifications to the station forecourt including installation of bollards and replacement of disabled parking spaces”.
The existing concrete staircases to Station Road will be demolished.
A temporary ramp will be built to platform two, to be used during the construction.
