Contracts approved for railway station revamp

The ticket station in Wickford was knocked down five years ago

Construction workers have been given the green light to rebuild a station ticket office after it was demolished five years ago.

Contracts have been signed for the redevelopment of Wickford railway station in Essex, which currently has rows of hoardings and a temporary ticket office.

Plans were first unveiled to transform it in 2020 but were derailed by the Covid-19 pandemic, said Greater Anglia.

The project will provide a new ticket office, waiting facilities, and toilets.

Trevor Hammond, the Wickford Independents councillor for Wickford North at Basildon Council, said: "It's been planned for quite a while. I liked the old ticket office and didn't think it should have been knocked down. It's good we will get another ticket office. It's awful not having one.

"I think it's still important to have ticket offices for a number of reasons. Some people may not know where they are going or how to pay for tickets using machines."

Martin Beable, managing director for Greater Anglia, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the contract for the new station had been signed and more details on the delivery scheme were due to be released in the spring.

Mark Francois, Conservative MP for Rayleigh and Wickford, said he had been campaigning for almost three years to get the station rebuilt.

"I warmly welcome the news that a contract to achieve this has now, finally, been signed, between Greater Anglia and Walker Construction," he said.

"My constituents in Wickford deserve a modern station and I'm pleased that work on this project will now commence in just a few months' time."