Council leader joins local residents in demanding better services and facilities for a station at the centre of a major redevelopment zone, reports James Cracknell
The leader of Enfield Council has joined users of Meridian Water Station in calling for a “critical intervention” to improve services and facilities.
The station was opened seven years ago at a cost of £46million but still does not have any direct services to central London and only two trains per hour – to Stratford and nowhere else – through most of the day.
In terms of facilities, the station lacks any parking or drop-off areas, making it difficult to even get a taxi to or from the station, while there also no toilets, no shops and no ticket office.
When it opened in June 2019, Network Rail predicted that the station would eventually be used for four million journeys per year, but fewer than half-a-million were recorded in 2024/25.
Part of the problem is that only 301 homes have so far been completed across the Meridian Water housing development, but the station does also serve London’s largest nightclub – Drumsheds, at the former Ikea store – while hundreds more homes are due to be completed in the next year.
Both council leader Alessandro Georgiou and Meridian One Homeowners Association chair Ebony Lartey recently wrote to Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan calling on him to intervene.
Ebony said: “Meridian Water Station, in its current form, is simply not fit for purpose.
“Stakeholders were told that as occupation of the development increased, train frequencies would increase from two trains per hour to four trains per hour. That commitment has still not materialised.
“Even if four trains per hour were introduced tomorrow, this would only represent a train every 15 minutes. For a major regeneration development of this scale, this remains inadequate. At an absolute minimum, residents require four trains per hour throughout the day, with increased frequencies during peak commuting periods.”
When there is disruption on the West Anglia Main Line or the route to Stratford, the Meridian Water shuttle service is often the first to be sacrificed so that other trains can still operate – this was the case this week, on Wednesday (12th), when four services in the middle of the day were all cancelled.
In his own letter, Cllr Georgiou wrote: “I want to highlight the imperative of the investment required to deliver a four trains per hour service. This is a critical intervention for London, as the required rail capacity is essential to realising the full housing, employment, economic and sustainable transport potential of one of the capital’s largest regeneration programmes.
“These service, facility and resilience issues point to a wider investment gap. Enfield Council has identified opportunities to support an uplift to 3tph [trains per hour] in the short term. However, the scale of growth planned at Meridian Water requires a clear pathway to 4tph. This will require targeted infrastructure investment and wider network capacity enhancements.”
The Dispatch has approached both the mayor’s office and Greater Anglia, the recently-nationalised operator of Meridian Water Station, for responses to the concerns raised.
A spokesperson for Khan said: “The mayor is aware of the concerns raised by Meridian Water residents, and his deputy mayor for transport will meet with Cllr Georgiou to discuss the asks for Greater Anglia, who operate the station and its services.
“The mayor recognises that Londoners need more homes in the right places, with connections to jobs and other local services. His draft London Plan makes clear that housing delivery and economic growth is only possible with investment in transport and other crucial infrastructure.
“That’s why he’s working closely with government on possible rail devolution projects across London that could bring substantial benefits to local communities, in addition to supporting significant housing delivery.
“The mayor will continue doing everything in his power to drive vital investment and sustainable growth across the capital as we build a better, fairer, more prosperous London for everyone.”
A Greater Anglia spokesperson said: “We’re working to improve services at Meridian Water, wherever practical, for customers and communities.
“Meridian Water currently has a half-hourly service all day (to/from Stratford) which is supplemented by a third train each hour during peak times.”
They added: “We will work with other stakeholders and other partners, including TfL [Transport for London] and local councils, to try and secure the funding and investment that would enable the improvements that the council has set out as future aspirations.”
Also concerned about the lack of improvements at Meridian Water is Cellina Doswell, vice chair of local residents’ group, React.
Cellina said: “We have repeatedly questioned why a station of this size still lacks a drop-off point for able-bodied travellers with their luggage etc and disabled travellers aiming to be dropped off. This has been on our agenda at meetings with Enfield Council, Meridian Water and [developer] Vistry teams since the station was opened.
“The council team have resolutely treated such important and essential infrastructure not a priority.
“We have asked why there is no Taxi rank and promised retail outlets considering Drumsheds, the [Tottenham Hotspur] stadium and Meridian [Grand] wedding events centre across the A406 are potential passengers also using Meridian Water as their final stop.
Ebony added: “The station operator’s own published information demonstrates the extent to which Meridian Water Station lacks even the most basic facilities expected of a modern railway station serving one of London’s flagship regeneration schemes.”
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