The station upgrade costing £8.3m is now complete at Barnes Station which gained new lifts and a footbridge across the platforms, making the station more accessible, particularly for those with limited mobility or those travelling with prams and luggage.

The station now has step-free routes to and from all four platforms for the first time. Other upgrades include refreshing the station lighting and installing CCTV. The programme of work was funded by the Department for Transport’s (DfT) ‘Access for All’ scheme, which aims to improve accessibility across the railway network.

In addition, Hounslow and Richmond Community Rail Partnership (CRP) has unveiled a new mural on the north side of the station, designed by artists Christopher Anthony and Andrew Werda of Nightshift Studios. The mural was created with the support of Barnes Primary School, St Mary Magdalen’s Catholic Primary School and Lowther Primary school as well as the community groups FiSH, Picassos in the Park, Barnes Community Association and Barnes Gardeners. The colourful display celebrates local wildlife and landmarks, including the WWT London Wetland Centre and Olympic Studios, where artists including The Beatles, Queen and David Bowie have recorded.

During the station upgrade works, an area of approximately 2000m2 of land managed as part of the Common was licensed for use as a site camp. Given the heavy machinery and supplies that needed to be used, it was anticipated that this would cause considerable damage, and that restoration should not only be planned for but should look to achieve the same sort of biodiversity net gains that are now required for developments subject to planning approval. It was agreed that the restoration work would be undertaken by Barnes Common and funding for this has been agreed and a down payment made.

• In essence the programme will:
• Re-profile the landscaping, in the process taking out more bramble and making optimal use of the soils present.
• Restore the neutral grassland meadow: in the past 10 years we had achieved ‘moderate’ condition, and the aim is to bring this over the next 10 years to ‘good condition’, in particular reducing the amount of bramble and coarse grasses and ensuring a diverse range of flowering species and food plants.
• Add 100m of native species hedgerow with species selection based on the suitability to the site conditions.
• Add hibernacula (a sheltering space for animals) to increase the available habitat for reptiles, small mammals and insects.
• Replace lost orchard trees with varieties that should be more resilient to climate change and good fruiters.
• Replant the woodland where the access track was created, with a focus on native trees that are disease and climate resilient, as well as encouraging a more diverse range of ground cover below the trees.

We wish to spend the first year monitoring how the site performs through natural regeneration rather than immediately importing new soils and seeds. We will start with the re-profiling / landscaping work shortly. We will probably have to maintain some fencing to limit access and give the recovery as much chance of success as possible, but will restore the direct desire line path.

If natural regeneration needs augmenting in year 2 or 3, we will, as far as possible, use local soils, (such as from the Common where we are creating new wetland features) and seeds of local provenance.

This programme will achieve Biodiversity Net Gain of a minimum of 10%, with a high probability of 20% gain and a potential 40% gain, using the same metrics as used for formal BNG assessments. What that means to most of us is that we will not only see the area once more become a haven for butterflies (30 species recorded on Barnes Common) with over 100 species of plants, but also for amphibians, reptiles and invertebrates.