Councillor Jill Whitehead London Borough of Sutton Liberal Democrat Councillor for Carshalton Central Chair of the Environment and Neighbourhoods Committee

7th January 2016 32 Milton Avenue Sutton SM1 3QB www.sutton.gov.uk

Dear Sir / Madam, London Borough of Sutton response to the Crossrail 2 consultation - December 2015. Sutton Council welcomes the opportunity to respond to this consultation on the detailed route and station options for Crossrail 2 and in particular the south western branches. We understand the consultation to be primarily concerned with: Station locations, entrances and exits; Shaft locations for the tunnelled section of the scheme; The construction sites required for the tunnelled section of the scheme; Proposed service patterns. The council submitted a detailed response to the consultation in 2013, much of which is still relevant to this consultation and therefore some of those points are reiterated here. We do not cover in detail the points made about funding other than to say it is important that any financial contributions required from councils towards Crossrail 2 via the Community Infrastructure Levy should not be double-counted by expecting the same developments to contribute to more than one transport scheme, for example a Tramlink extension. The benefits of connecting Sutton into Crossrail2 Crossrail 2 would be important not only to provide improved access to other parts of London for residents of Sutton but also to ensure that Sutton is accessible to employees and visitors from elsewhere in London who need to access its business and leisure opportunities. The council is supportive of the ambitions of the other South London Partnership boroughs, in particular Merton and Kingston, in their propositions for Crossrail 2. We recognise the benefits of a network of connected strong economic centres across South London given the sub-regional nature of its economy. Sutton is a pro-growth borough that makes a significant contribution to the South London and wider London economy and has the potential to do more. Sutton town centre is forecast to grow rapidly in terms of residential population and employment, with a number of major developments in the pipeline and further sites earmarked over the next decade. In particular the council is promoting the London Cancer Hub (LCH) as a globally significant cancer research and innovation hub in Belmont. As well as enhancing existing cancer research and treatment on the site, the

LCH would provide in the region of 100,000 sq.m. of new accommodation for bio-medical and support-businesses including new laboratory floorspace. Why is Crossrail 2 a priority for Sutton? Crossrail 2 is an important element in the council’s efforts to promote greater use of public transport and reduce car dependency, congestion and air pollution through its Sustainable Transport Strategy. Crossrail 2 will provide improved access from Worcester Park to neighbouring areas and central / north east London, and vice versa. Whilst the Crossrail 2 project will bring some indirect benefits to the borough, once again the London Borough of Sutton will not benefit directly from major public transport investment in London. It is understood that TfL looked at the option of a regional route from Wimbledon to Sutton via the Thameslink loop line, but ruled it out on the grounds that it would not provide any journey time savings over the existing Sutton to London Victoria service and would not provide congestion relief benefits on the Waterloo lines. The council would welcome reconsideration of a route to Sutton for one of the regional scheme branches from Wimbledon involving a service on the loop line between Wimbledon and Sutton. This could be no more than two trains per hour (tph), which would, if evenly spaced with the existing Thameslink service, provide a four train per hour service on this line - something the council has been seeking for some time. This would also provide an additional cross-London service for commuters on the Thameslink loop line, reducing peak crowding on the Thameslink line in central London and enhancing the service at stations on the loop line between Sutton and Wimbledon, which have currently only two trains per hour in each direction plus a few additional peak trains. Should the regional route not come to Sutton it is important that transport benefits for the borough are provided in other ways and that the connections into Crossrail 2 are significantly improved. The council would look to TfL and Network Rail to work with Sutton and other South London Boroughs to maximise such benefits. This could include improved rail links between Sutton and Wimbledon on the Thameslink loop line and provides a further impetus for the proposed Tramlink extension to which LB Sutton and Merton has committed £47m as well as improved bus links. Options for an enhanced service on the loop line could include extending the London Overground from West Croydon to Wimbledon via Sutton or other proposals for improving services along this corridor such as TfL’s ‘Metroisation’ plans. Ease of interchange at Wimbledon station is also important, as platform 9 and the existing steps to the bridge are often severely congested at peak times. Any redesign of Wimbledon station to accommodate Crossrail 2 should also make provision for additional Tramlink capacity in order to accommodate the proposed extension to Sutton, as well as an enhanced frequency on the Thameslink loop line, which currently uses platform 9 in both directions. Similarly, convenient and well-designed interchange at Clapham Junction and Victoria are important. The Council is also keen to ensure that the emerging metroisation proposals provide Sutton with frequent and fast connections into Clapham Junction as a means of connecting into Crossrail 2. Whilst the Council understands the reasons why a proposed stop at Tooting Broadway has been reconsidered in favour of a stop at Balham, the Tooting stop would have served St. Georges Hospital, one of the main general hospitals in south London that serves the borough and beyond. It is currently quite difficult for residents of the Worcester Park area to access this hospital by public transport and a Crossrail 2 stop there would have improved access significantly. Nevertheless, a stop at Balham would provide an additional connection to Crossrail 2 for Sutton residents using the Southern services.

Notwithstanding the desire to see a branch to Sutton, the council welcomes the inclusion of the Epsom branch as one of the South West route options, with a stop at Worcester Park. Maximising the benefits of a Crossrail 2 station at Worcester Park The proposed Crossrail 2 station at Worcester Park will be welcomed by residents in the north west of the borough for whom this is the nearest station, despite it being just over the border in Kingston. A considerable number of residents of Worcester Park and North Cheam use this station, which is one of the busiest in SW London. Being in Zone 4 it is also likely to attract people from nearby Epsom and Ewell borough as well as Kingston borough. The council welcomes the proposed increase in frequency of peak hour trains from Worcester Park to central London from 6tph to 8tph (of which 4-6 will be Crossrail 2 services). This suggests that there would still be at least 2tph to Waterloo. Given that existing services from Worcester Park all go to Waterloo, it is important to retain this route option as many people will have made decisions on employment and housing location on the basis of this service. Nevertheless, a more frequent Crossrail 2 service, with interchange opportunities at Clapham Junction and Victoria and new direct services into the West End, Euston-St. Pancras and north east London, with connections at Tottenham Hale for Stansted Airport, would be welcomed. It is assumed that there would also be an increase in off-peak frequencies at Worcester Park with Crossrail 2 (CR2), from 4tph to at least 6tph, with 2tph retained to Waterloo and 4tph to CR2. Worcester Park station has recently had new lifts and a footbridge installed to make the station fully accessible. However, as part of the Crossrail 2 work, the council would like to see the installation of a ramp to provide direct step-free access to the down platform from the Worcester Park (LB Sutton) side. Council-owned land is available to accommodate this ramp. Consideration should also be given to the improvement / replacement of the station buildings, including business premises within the station and adjacent to it in Sutton and Kingston boroughs. The station buildings are quite old and the site is under-utilised, and there is currently very little business benefit from the huge footfall through the station. As part of the complementary measures to support the Worcester Park CR2 station the council would like to see improvements to public transport access to the station, and measures to address the traffic congestion on the A2043 corridor and parking around the station, so as to ensure that the CR2 project does not worsen the situation. As part of this, there may be an opportunity to review the bus stopping and interchange arrangements at the station. Yours faithfully,

Councillor Jill Whitehead Chair of the Environment and Neighbourhoods Committee

Officer Contact: Alex Forrest, Principal Transport Planner, London Borough of Sutton, Environment, Housing and Regeneration Directorate, 24 Denmark Road, Carshalton, Surrey SM5 2JG. Email: [email protected] Tel: 0208 770 6878.