A station set to be reopened by Waltham Forest Council after closing 28 years ago could be closed down if not enough people use it to commute.

Lea Bridge Station, in Lea Bridge Road, Walthamstow, is set to reopen at the end of 2014 after the authority agreed to cover most of the £6.5 million cost of building it.

The government has also agreed to contribute £1.13 million towards the project’s cost to bring it back, with the joint aim of revitalising the area’s economy and speeding up journey times for commuters to Stratford and Tottenham Hale.

But the council’s cabinet is set to consider whether to accept the government’s funding, with a condition attached to it that means the council would have to pay it up to £1.25 million if the station is underused to the extent that its £45,000 per year running costs are not met.

The council estimates 552,000 people a year will use the station, however, and said this situation is very unlikely to arise.

A report due to be heard by cabinet next Tuesday said: “[The] business case demonstrates that the station is viable and that the risk of a council contribution having to be made in practice is very low.”

But elsewhere it warns the station would be closed by the Department of Transport if passenger usage fell so low as to not pay for the station’s running costs.

It added: “The level of risk to the council in accepting the guarantee is assessed to be minimal because passenger numbers would have to be disastrously low for any subsidy of running costs to be required.”

Cabinet will decide whether to accept the condition or to fund the further £1.13 million itself at the town hall on Tuesday.