The Mayor of London has defended a decision by Crossrail to scrap plans to rebuild Ilford station.

The station, in Cranbrook Road, was due to be demolished and rebuilt as part of the �15.9billion rail network that will stretch from Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east to Maidenhead, Berkshire and Heathrow Airport in the West.

But in February it emerged that Crossrail, the company behind the scheme, had dropped their plans to rebuild Ilford Station and provide step-free access at Seven Kings station.

Replying to a written question about the U-turn from London Assembly Member Murad Qureshi (Labour) last week, mayor Boris Johnson said: “I appreciate that the design option for Network Rail’s Ilford station presented by Crossrail Limited and Network Rail differs from the reference design presented during the Crossrail Bill phase.

“Ilford’s revised station design meets sponsors’ requirements, including capacity for expected future demand and improved facilities such as disabled access and real time information.”

The Mayor went on to say that the most important thing was that the rail line itself was going ahead as previously planned, despite the economic climate.

Redbridge Council said in February that it was lobbying Mr Johnson, along with Crossrail and Network Rail, to reinstate the plan which it says offered “very real” opportunities to develop the area between the station and Ilford Hill.