A walkway linking two busy Walthamstow stations is reportedly scheduled to open this summer - after 17 years of delays and broken promises.

Campaigners from the Barking to Gospel Oak Line User Group (BGOLUG) say the council has told them that the pedestrian bridge connecting Walthamstow Central and Queens Road should be completed by June.

The Family Housing Association first pledged to build the walkway back in 1996.

The promise was made in return for it being granted planning permission for a development in nearby Exeter Road, but the walkway was never built and a long legal battle with Waltham Forest Council ensued.

The authority won an appeal in 2008 but delays dragged on, until Solum Regeneration promised to build the structure as part of its bid to build tower blocks by Walthamstow Central Station.

Planning permission for that scheme, which includes a 14-storey Travelodge Hotel and two eight-storey residential blocks, was granted in January 2011.

Council officer Ian Ansell told a planning meeting that the "main positive" of the controversial development was that it would lead to the completion of the pedestrian link.

Planning permission for the final designs of the walkway was granted in September 2011 and the council reportedly told BGOLUG that it would be completed by the end of the year.

But a spokesman for Solum said the agreement had been to build the link by the end of 2013 and he would not confirm the claim that it will be finished in June.

Earlier this month Waltham Forest Council's cabinet approved a draft 'Action Plan' strategy document for Walthamstow Town Centre which proposed that the link should be completed to help regenerate the area.

The tower blocks are due to be completed by the end of 2013.

According to Solum's website two of the development's five retail units have so far been sold.

One will be occupied by lettings and estate agents Wonderlease and the other by Central Radio Cars, which previously had a permanent office at the site.

The Solum spokesman said: “Construction work on Solum Regeneration’s redevelopment of the area around Walthamstow Central Station is progressing well and the project will be completed by the end of 2013, as planned. 

"The £22 million scheme will bring new homes, jobs and inward investment to Walthamstow and provide environmental enhancements around the station.

“As part of the planning agreement with Waltham Forest Council, a new pedestrian and cycle link from Walthamstow Central Station to Edison Close will be provided. 

"This will be delivered later this year, as part of the agreed package of environmental improvements.”