Stanford rail station slips behind schedule again - with no firm plans in place for when reconstruction will begin | Local News | News | Thurrock Nub News

UNDER questioning from Thurrock Nub News, Thurrock Council has conceded its plans for the rebuild of Stanford-le-Hope rail station are now behind schedule – again!

In January this year, in what was then regarded by many as a very optimistic forecast, the council's then cabinet member of good growth, Lee Watson, told councillors the station was on track to be rebuilt and reopened by July 2027.

With that deadline just 11 months away – and with little having been done in the intervening period – a statement today (Friday, 24 July) from the council, who took more than a week to respond to Thurrock Nub News' question, says that work on simply setting out a tender for the work, may not be completed until the end of December.

Cllr Watson said the tender for the main station building was scheduled between the first and second quarter of this year, with the council anticipating completion in July 2027.

When the business case for the rail station project was first approved in February 2017 the cost of the whole project was estimated at £12.05m.

By November 2021 that had soared to £29.09m. When last reviewed more than a year ago, the estimated cost had risen to at least £34m.

Council cannot give a timeline for completion of work at Stanford station.

The council now appears to have difficulty in accounting for what it has spent, what it is still liable to have to pay and what to do with the former Daybreak Windows site that it bought for almost £5 million but is now redundant in terms of the station project after the transport interchange aspect of the project was dropped.

In February 2024 the council announced new plans to create an alternative 'Station Quarter' scheme that would deliver a new bridge over the railway line as part of a wider mixed-use development containing a new station, homes and commercial space.

That was expected to be delivered by 2028 but the whole plan has disappeared into the mists of time!

The long-drawn out saga of the station goes back to 2016. It was originally planned under a Labour administration as a joint venture between Thurrock Council, rail provider c2c, Network Rail and DP World London Gateway which committed cash to the council as part of its original planning permission for the port.

In March 2016 Labour councillor Oliver Gerrish, then in charge of transport, said: "It is important to provide improved access to more than 12,000 jobs at London Gateway and the Thames Enterprise Park, as well as improved facilities for local people."

Mr Gerrish's employment figures now look substantially over-hyped. The reality is that even if the six planned berths at DP London Gateway port are completed (four are currently in place) the total number of employees at the port will be 1,600, while the numbers actually employed on the adjacent logistics park will also be significantly less than early expectations.

It wasn't until three years later and after a change to a Conservative administration that work on the station started. In March 2019 contractors moved in and demolished most of the existing 1960s station buildings, working to a blueprint drawn up which allowed for a turning circle, a new station building and a new bridge.

Unfortunately, it turned out to be seriously flawed plan due to over optimistic engineering expectations and work ground to a halt in June that year when it became clear the whole design project had been botched.

Little has been said about the station project since Mrs Watson's comments at the turn of the year, so Nub News approached the council for an update.

The site 'cleared' by Henderson and Taylor.

Today, the following statement was issued: "Henderson & Taylor are appointed to carry out the infrastructure phase of the project. This phase began in November 2025, which included site clearance.

"The design for the infrastructure phase is complete and Henderson & Taylor will commence those works in September to replace the hoarding, carry out works to prepare platform one for the new station building and complete works to platform two to include the installation of a gateline.

"The tender process to appoint a contractor to construct the new station will commence in Q3 2026 (October to December) at which point the programme will be finalised."

The story behind the revamp for Stanford station is now long and tortuous and has become a debacle illustrating Thurrock Council's repeated inability to manage infrastructure projects.

The list of over budget or abandoned projects includes the widening of the A13, the now-abandoned Grays rail station and underpass scheme and the town hall build. All have been hugely expensive.

One of the early drawings of what the station would become. The modern vision and complete revamp didn't last long as engineering for the scheme wasn't possible.