This is to update you on what is currently (not) happening on the railway embankment near Grange Hill station.

After a day of devastation accompanied by a very noisy shredding machine things appear to have changed somewhat. The contractors were on site again at around 8.30am and beginning to manoeuvre the shredder into position at the top of the embankment adjacent to my garden fence. They began using their chain saws on foliage to the rear of Long Green. I contacted Cllr Mrs Huggett and Keith Prince AM and gave them details.

After a fairly short time work stopped, but not before removal of the crown from a tree in addition to all the shrubbery that had been cut. The result has been to partially expose the ugly parapet top of a wall of a flat-roofed building at the end of the station platform that was previously masked by the tree and the shrubs - the very purpose for which the shrubs were planted.

Work has not (thus far!) recommenced, although I have seen some people walk from time to time along the road in high vis suits and protective head gear, so they appear still to be present in the area. The shredder and the contractors appear to have vacated the embankment area. Thankfully the vegetation to the rear of my home appears largely to have remained untouched - for now, anyway!

I must repeat that this wanton vandalism has taken place without consultation, and without prior notice to residents. This high-handed, arrogant behaviour is typical of TfL as it was also of the former LRT during the many years that I served on the council’s Public Transport Liaison Group.

Morris Hickey

Long Green, Chigwell