01 Jun Community joy as Hockley station is improved with grant funding
Hockley station in Essex has received a new Community Area thanks to a grant from Greater Anglia’s Customer and Community Improvement Fund 24/25.
The train operator for the east of England awarded the station adopters at Hockley and the Hockley and Hawkwell U3A Gardening Group a £6,380 grant for the project.
The station adopters have been working to improve the area in front of the station, and passengers can now wait for their train in a renewed area with benches, coffee tables, planters, and a new poster describing some of the attractions of Hockley.
A local contractor helped carry out the landscaping work, laying the new concrete base, installing the furniture in the new waiting area, and assisting with other improvements.
The new area aims to be fully accessible for all passengers, and the new planters aim to deliver elements of a sensory garden offering vibrant colour, scent, sound, and tactile plants.
Hockley community area development 7
Hockley station community area (Credit: Greater Anglia)
Jim Hadden, representing Hockley’s station adopters, said:
“After hearing about the Customer and Community Improvement Fund back in October, we thought it was a great opportunity to enhance the look of the entrance of the station and provide a pleasant outdoor waiting area.
“We hope that our colourful poster will encourage visitors to return to experience Hockley’s attractions.
“We would like to thank Greater Anglia for the opportunity to highlight the work we do every day at the station.”
Greater Anglia’s Partnerships Manager, Scott Dolling, said:
“We are pleased to support this initiative to help enhance one of our stations. The renewed area is near the passenger’s entrance, so I hope many people are going to stop, wait for their train and appreciate the work our station adopters do.
“We are always looking to enhance the role of the railway in support of the community it serves, and our new Customer and Community Improvement Fund is a way of supporting further locally focused enhancements in line with community needs.”
Part of the money is also being used to level out the station’s main garden.
Greater Anglia’s Customer and Community Improvement Fund is designed to support local, community-focused rail improvements across its network.
This scheme is aimed at supporting initiatives which deliver community benefits and enhance rail’s positive role in society. Ideas proposed can be put forward by local organisations or bodies, such as community rail partnerships, station adopters, local authorities or parish councils, community groups, charities, or other stakeholders along the routes served by the train operator.
