[WillowTheWhisp]

I haven't actually seen this week's Observer yet but I think I'm going to end up disagreeing with you on this one A-b for a couple of reasons. The first one is the location of the building in question. As most people will know, the access to the present Ticket office/waiting cupboard form Paxton Street can be a little precarious in wet or snowy weather. That incline can come to resemble a ski-slope and Heaven forbid that it should freeze on top of rain or half thawed snow for then we are presented with something akin to the cresta run. So to have a ticket office and waiting room which can be approached on the level is surely a step back to the original location of the main station entrance in the good old days and can only be classed as a 'good thing', especially for disabled travellers and anyone else who is none too steady on their pins.

The other thing is this mention of heat and loos. How long is it since we have actually had loos on Accrington Station let alone loos with hot water? That has long been one of my grumbles that basically all we've had since they tore down the glorious old buildings is a couple of overgrown bus stops and the aforementioned cupboard with ticket office. The idea of having new loos and the possibility of a bit of solar powered hot water has got to be an improvement. Maybe we can have solar powered heating in waiting rooms too?

Yes I do agree with your last point that it wouldn't half be a good idea to have a waiting room on each platform and where my aforementioned diabled travellers are concerned it wouldn't be amiss to consider some better way of getting from one to t'other than that rusty old bridge with the slippery-when-wet steps.

So overall I give them 7 out of 10 for effort but maybe 5 out of 10 for logic and imagination. As one of my old teachers would have said "Room for improvement".

Off to track down the Observer now and see if I've missed anything obvious.