Tilbury on Thames Trust given go ahead to restore Tilbury Riverside Station.

A FORMER railway station, which welcomed the first Windrush migrants, is set to have a facelift reports the Local Democracy Reporter.

The Tilbury on Thames Trust has been given the go ahead to restore Tilbury Riverside Station.

The neo-Georgian station is a Grade II listed building designed by Sir Edwin Cooper and completed in 1924. It saw the arrival of the SS Empire Windrush, the first ship to bring a large group of migrants from the Caribbean, which docked in Tilbury in 1948.

It ceased to operate as a railway station on the London, Tilbury and Southend railway line in 1992. The National Lottery Heritage Fund funded development project now aims to find new uses for the station building and to make it more accessible.

The scheme includes a new café, heritage and exhibition display space and the creation of up to 11 “flexible creative lettable workspaces which are sympathetic to the history, character and layout of the station building”. A Conservation Plan will also be part of the project.

Thurrock planning officers who have approved the scheme, said: “The proposal put forward has a number of potential heritage benefits arising from the proposal including repairs to historic fabric and internal finishes, as well as securing a viable new use for the station building with the potential to support its long term conservation.

“There remains scope to reduce the level of less than substantial harm to the significance of the listed building arising from the current proposal with regards to the replacement windows. On balance, although there a degree of harm to its significance, the council’s specialist advisors and Historic England are satisfied that there is a clear and convincing justification for the works that are proposed.”

They add: “The retention and restoration of the key historic elements of the building will ensure its original purposes continue to be understood.”