Planning approval for lift at Lawrence Hill station

Plans to install a new lift at Lawrence Hill railway station have received planning permission today from Bristol City Council.

A lift and improved stairs will be added to platform 2, making the station, which first opened in 1863, step-free for the first time and fully accessible to everyone.

The lift will be installed on the southbound platform heading towards Bristol Temple Meads which currently only has steps. Platform 1 has step-free access through the neighbouring Lidl car park.

The project is set to be funded by the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority, subject to final business case approval.

Helen Godwin, Mayor of the West of England, said:

“For too many years, Lawrence Hill train station has not been fully accessible – leaving parents struggling on the stairs with prams and excluding many Disabled and older people from train travel.

“We want all of our stations to be fully accessible, so it’s great that our plans have now been approved to install a new lift to make Lawrence Hill step-free.

“While we continue building new stations in this new chapter for the West, and plan for how best to invest some of the record £752 million for transport secured at the Spending Review to increase the frequency of services across our suburban network, our region’s older stations need investment.”

Councillor Tony Dyer, Leader of Bristol City Council, said:

“Moving forward with a new station lift at Lawrence Hill is part of our wider plan for extending and improving access to rail travel across our region. The welcome investment we’re seeing in rail in the West of England will improve transport connections to jobs, education and leisure for new and existing communities, and provide a greener, more convenient way for people in Bristol to travel.”

Marcus Jones, Western Route Director at Network Rail, said:

“We welcome today’s announcement of planning approval for step-free access at Lawrence Hill station.

“We’re striving to make our railway as open and accessible to all as we can, and providing a lift at Lawrence Hill station will make travelling by train much easier for those with reduced mobility, people with pushchairs, cyclists, and passengers carrying heavy luggage. 

“With the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority we’re embarking on the biggest rail regeneration for the region in decades with more stations, more services and improvements across the railway, and today’s announcement brings us another step closer to bringing better rail travel for the people of Bristol and the west of England.”

Hannah Shackleford, Wales & West of England Development Manager for GWR, said:

“We’re delighted that planning approval has been granted, helping to enable the next phase of our planned improvements for Lawrence Hill station. 

“Improving access to our stations is really important to us helping even more people to take advantage of the benefit rail brings to the local and national economy.

“We know that working together with the West of England Combined Authority and Network Rail means we can deliver more and we are committed to a cooperative, collaborative approach with the communities we serve.”

Lawrence Hill is on the Severn Beach Line and over 350,000 people use the station each year. While the lift is being fitted, the current steps on platform 2 will be demolished and a temporary footbridge from platform 1 will be installed.

Improving accessibility at the station is part of the wider £400 million rail upgrade across the West, as well as creating new stations and increasing train services to better connect communities.

The accessibility of older stations across the region is also being reviewed. The Mayoral Combined Authority currently has a click to open in a new windowsurvey open asking people for their experiences of using stations across the region and what improvements they think should be made to make their journeys easier. Over 140 people have already completed the survey, which closes on 20 October.

Two new railway stations have opened in the region since 2023, Portway Park & Ride and Ashley Down. Five more will be built in the coming years: Charfield, Henbury, North Filton, Pill, and Portishead.

Original press release by the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority