Well, we’ve done what we can.
The Friends of Handforth Station were devastated to hear in July that our ticket office might be closed. We have particular circumstances at our station (e.g. no step-free access to the existing ticket machine, e.g. only one ticket machine, e.g. no shelter for users of the ticket machine, e.g. CCTV not fully working) that add to the generic deficiencies of these proposals (e.g. no cash payments accepted, e.g. huge reduction in staffing hours).
For the rest of the summer, the FoHS worked to campaign against the proposal:
- We created an online comments form, asking for comments from the station users and the local community. Of the submissions received via this form, over 90% have been against the proposal, with (as on 20 September) one “neutral” and one “positive”.
- We placed information leaflets around the station, and offered paper versions of those comments forms for people to complete. Again, the large majority of paper feedback was “negative”.
- We submitted a corporate FoHS response to the consultation process, itemising the deficiencies in the proposal and the specific circumstances at Handforth that make the proposal a bad idea.
- We contributed to the public discussions by posting our views on various petitions and forums.
- We organised a demonstration at the station to show the strength of feeling of Handforth residents and of station users.
Visit this page on our web-site to read more.