TfL halts tube station closure plan after legal threat from council

Transport for London (TfL) has agreed to halt its plans to close a tube station for eight months to carry out lift repairs, after being threatened with legal action by Islington Council.

TfL had intended to shut Caledonian Road station between March and October this year as it wanted to repair both lifts at the same time.

However, Islington called for the repairs to be done sequentially, allowing for the station to remain open.

The council began judicial review proceedings. Its grounds of challenge included that TfL did not have due regard to its public sector equality duty when deciding to close the station rather than repair one lift after the other, and that the closure of the station discriminated against physically disabled and older persons.

In a letter to the council received last week, TfL said it would “withdraw and reconsider” the decision because it recognised the value of undertaking an analysis of the impact the closure would have on disabled people who use the station.

It added that it would “now reconsider how the lift refurbishment at the station is to be carried out” and look again at plans to refurbish the lifts simultaneously or sequentially.

The council welcomed the move and TfL’s offer to consult on future proposals for the temporary closure of the station.

Islington has agreed in return to discontinue its legal proceedings on the basis that TfL covers the council’s legal costs.

Cllr Claudia Webbe, Islington’s executive member for environment and transport, said: “We welcome TfL’s climb down, which shows the council was correct in starting legal proceedings against the decision to close the station for eight months.

“When TfL’s plans were announced in December, local residents were rightly deeply concerned about the impact it would have. I want to thank the residents that supported our campaign to make TfL think again. We’re particularly pleased that TfL will be looking at how its proposals will affect equalities and specifically the impact they would have on disabled and older people who use the station.

“It’s clear that both TfL and the council would much prefer to resolve this dispute amicably, if possible, and we hope that TfL will deliver the improvements the station needs by replacing the lifts one after the other and keeping the station open.”