Sutton Council has voiced its strong opposition to Govia Thameslink’s proposed closure of ticket offices at Sutton, Wallington, Carshalton and Carshalton Beeches railway stations.

Govia Thameslink Railway, a train operating company that operates the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern rail franchise, is instead proposing to bring staff out into the concourse to sell tickets from handheld machines.

In the council’s response to the three-week consultation, which ended on Monday 14 March, Cllr. Jill Whitehead, Chair of the Environment and Neighbourhoods Committee, said the council “strongly objects” to the proposed closure of the ticket offices.

In the letter, Cllr. Whitehead said:

“The council strongly objects to the proposed closure of Sutton ticket office. Sutton is the sixth-busiest station on the Southern network and seventh-busiest in south London, having almost 7 million passenger entries and exits per annum. The council has major growth plans for Sutton, a Metropolitan town centre, in terms of housing and employment which will result in a significant increase in station usage over the next decade. The council has also recently completed the Station Gateway scheme at Sutton, which made some significant improvements to area outside the station, as well as opening the side entrance.

“We consider it is important that this major London Metropolitan town centre should retain a ticket office facility.”

The Govia Thameslink proposal would mean anyone using the railway stations would have to obtain tickets via ticket machines, or smartcards such as Oyster cards and contactless cards or via a staff member in the concourse if one is available.

However, Cllr. Whitehead said:

“There are certain ticket types and transactions that are not currently available from ticket machines, such as extensions to season tickets or freedom passes, railcards, purchasing Oyster and Key cards, the use of rail vouchers and the booking of complex longer-distance journeys.”

Cllr. Whitehead said the council would like to retain the ticket office facility in the peak hours in Wallington and Carshalton, as they are the second- and third-busiest stations in the borough, while Carshalton Beeches is the sixth busiest.

“We note that there are no proposals for Hackbridge and Cheam stations, which are less busy than Carshalton and Wallington. Is this because they do not have ticket barriers?

“Finally, we consider that the three-week consultation period for this proposal is too short, and does not give people an adequate time to find out about it and respond.”

• The full letter can be supplied through the Sutton Council press office.