Work to restore station lifts to take over a year

Work to install lifts at the nearest railway station to Premier League club AFC Bournemouth is expected to take just over a year, South Western Railway (SWR) has said.

The lifts that once connected Pokesdown station's entrance with the platforms below were mothballed in 1979, and campaigners have spent the past 16 years calling for step-free access to be restored.

Earlier this year, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council withdrew more than £2m it had pledged towards the scheme.

But work on the £7.2m project - funded by SWR, the government and Network Rail - is set to start at the beginning of October and be completed in early 2028.

The station is just half a mile (0.8km) from Vitality Stadium - which is undergoing a significant expansion this season - but a lack of lifts means it is inaccessible to many disabled fans and people with limited mobility.

Passengers have to negotiate 42 steep steps between the platforms and street level.

Ben Smith is a Cherries fan, wheelchair user and campaigner for step-free access at Pokesdown since 2010.

He said it was not a good look for the club, now playing in both the Premier League and UEFA Europa League.

"It's been an embarrassing situation," he said. "It's the main station for the football club."

Tom Hayes, Bournemouth East's Labour MP, had lobbied for the work to be completed after BCP Council withdrew its funding pledge.

"For so many years, people have been wanting Pokesdown to be step free and they've been let down", he said.

"Now, finally it's going to happen - that's great news for the football club, which is expanding, it's great news for local people, and it's particularly great news for disabled people who've been shut out from their railways."

The project involves reinstating two new lifts into the existing lift shafts.

Jenny Cook, station portfolio director at South Western Railway, said the work would see the removal of existing cladding from the former goods lifts before installing new lift equipment.

"That actually requires some scaffold to be erected," she said.

"We'll actually use the same scaffold to construct the new cladding and to introduce new steel members, and that will then allow us to build the new lift equipment in situ."

The scheme has been funded with £3.8m from SWR, £2.6m from the government and £800,000 from Network Rail.

By the time the lifts open it will have been nearly 50 years since the station was accessible to all - and campaigners say that moment cannot come soon enough.

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