I bumped into Alastair Metcalf of Network Rail yesterday so I grabbed the opportunity to ask some questions. Alastair is responsible for communications with the local community. He told me that Network Rail are currently engaged in a process called 'Station Change'. It will decide on and roll out closures of shops and amenities in the main Euston Road entrance, making way for a new left luggage area and sign posting people to shops and amenities in St Pancras. They had not informed the community about 'Station Change' because they have not made any decisions yet. I asked Alastair to keep us up to date even when decisions have not been made. For example, letting us know that 'Station Change' was underway and what it's scope is could have allayed rumours about what Network Rail is up to. However, Alastair reiterated that as no decisions had been made, the community was not informed. He did say that notices will go up in the Station informing passengers when decisions are made.
It is clear though, that we will be losing all the shops and amenities at Euston Road well before it closes, and long before the Western Concourse opens. St Pancras is seen as the replacement. And how do we get there? By doing a huge u-shaped walk around the entire station site. The bridge that we need crossing King's Cross at the mid point is more urgent than anyone had anticipated.
It is very difficult for our community to feel that Network Rail are engaging with us, or even informing us, over the station redevelopment. Getting replies to basic questions by email remains almost impossible. We only find out about decisions after they've been implemented (Boots KX for example), engagement appears to mean telling us what they've decided once they've implemented it - this is a new definition of engagement for us.
A big question for folks out there - how can we deal with doublespeak? It feels like we speak different languages - what does engaging the community really mean? What does keeping the community informed mean? For Network Rail and the community these things have completely different definitions and are leading to some very unfortunate miscommunications. Perhaps Network Rail would benefit from talking to some community development specialists... Network Rail are planning a meeting in October to which the community will be invited, shame if we can't sort out these fundamental communication issues before then. If you have any good strategies or ideas for coping with doublespeak, please let us know!
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