Thank you for supporting the campaign to Save Liverpool Street Station and the former Great Eastern Hotel (LISSCA). We appreciate, and need, your help.
Firstly, we are looking for a volunteer campaign secretary for LISSCA to work closely with the Director of the Victorian Society to drive the campaign forward. If interested please email director@victoriansociety.org.uk with a note saying why you would be suited to the role, how much time you could give and a CV.
Sometime in April we expect a planning application for the scheme that will partially demolish the listed station and cantilever a tower over the grade II* hotel - setting a terrible precedent for other listed buildings. We will then update you on how you can object. To inspire us to success, Building Magazine has written a great article and interviewed some of the original people who helped save the Station and the hotel in the 1970s.
A few weeks ago Network Rail Chair, Peter Hendy, met with the Victorian Society on behalf of LISSCA to discuss the public benefits of the scheme. This confirmed that:
1. The Sellar scheme is not paying for restoration of the Victorian train shed which is already funded.
2. Planned ‘gate line improvements’ i.e. making it easier to get on and off the platforms are already funded
3. There is already funding for a second lift.
4. The scheme would be disruptive to passenger access to the station.
Network Rail believes the scheme with Sellar is the only way to pay for a comprehensive redesign of the station to improve passenger experience and to prevent passenger overcrowding as the Government will not make the necessary investment.
However, the second lift already planned for Liverpool Street shows that improvements can be made without the need for a huge, harmful, tower. Indeed, at the suburban station of Hither Green, funding has been found for four new lifts Similarly, a total redesign of the station is no guarantee against dangerous overcrowding as recent overcrowding at London Bridge has shown.
We need to get to 10,000 or more signatures on our Change.org petition – we will put some posts out about the campaign so please do repost and encourage your own followers on social media to sign the petition, please use the #saveliverpoolstreetstation and #seeitsaveit https://chng.it/dnwqcgCq
Thanks for your continued help.
The LISSCA Committee
Photo credit: Joris Vanbillemont