I regret that Carol Scleater (Watford Observer December 29) has allowed her wish for passenger service at the existing Watford Met Station in Cassiobury Park Avenue to be retained when construction of the Met Line Extension (MLX) to Watford Junction is completed to crowd out wider considerations of the overall transport needs of Watford and south-west Hertfordshire generally. At the same time her veiled suggestion that Mayor Thornhill and other Lib Dems are complacent about the proposed withdrawl of passenger service from Watford Met Station is a misrepresentation of our view. The Mayor and local Lib Dem councillors have consistently maintained that retaining a passenger service at the Cassiobury Park Avenue station would be supportive of the operation of the MLX – not detrimental to it.

The exciting developments currently under construction in the town centre will enhance the attractiveness of Watford as a major regional retail and leisure destination, securing existing jobs as well as providing increased employment opportunities. But the improved transport links that the MLX will provide is key to making a success of this major enhancement of our town. It is right that Mayor Thornhill is doing all she can to encourage all the stakeholders in the MLX project to recognise the potential damage to our town if there is not a quick resolution of the £50 million MLX funding shortfall identified by TFL when they reviewed the project on taking over responsibility for it from Hertfordshire County Council.

I am encouraged that David Gauke – Government Minister for Work and Pensions and MP for South West Hertfordshire – has called in his New Year Message for construction work on the MLX to begin in the next few months. It is a pity that our own Watford MP is not showing the same enthusiasm for the project. In his New Year Message Richard Harrington lists six things in his plan for Watford – but omits any mention of the MLX!

Just over a year ago when it emerged that when the MXL comes on stream the existing Watford Met Station would be kept open for the light maintenances of trains, as well as for stabling and train reversing purposes but not for passenger service, Mayor Thornhill took up with the Mayor of London and TFL the apparent nonsense of trains moving in and out of the station but potential passengers being denied the use of them. Sadiq Khan’s response was that to maintain a passenger serve to and from the station would be an unfunded change to the scope of the MLX. I will be urging Mayor Thornhill and whoever takes over from her in May to continue press for a review of what most users of Watford Met Station see as be an irrational and perverse situation.

George Derbyshire

2014-2015 Chairman, Watford Borough Council