Waltham Forest Council has agreed to fund half of an £18 million upgrade for Leyton tube station on the Central line, with the other half coming from TfL.

The proposals will see a new ticket hall built next to the existing ticket hall which would be over three times the size of the old one, with eight passenger gates, compared to the existing five.

Currently, Leyton station is frankly, a fairly basic shed above tracks type of tube station in need of refurbishment, and a large slice of the funding is to make it fully accessible with step-free access down to the platforms.

This is the second attempt to revamp the station, as it was due to have had a major upgrade ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games, but those plans were never carried out.

The new plans are needed as the area is expected to see an additional 4,500 homes built locally, and the station would struggle to cope with the additional passenger use.

The station is currently overcrowded during peak periods and often has the gates closed to hold passengers back until the platforms have cleared. Passengers are further inconvenienced when trains have to skip Leyton station in the evening peak period when the station becomes too crowded to be safe. The proximity of the station’s gate line to the narrow footpath over the bridge, results in crowds of people spilling onto the busy public highway during these periods.

The station currently has 14 million passengers per year and TfL expects this to increase to 17 million by 2041. The plans are designed to absorb that increase, plus an additional 30% for unexpected passenger growth.

The proposals will see a new ticket hall built on the north side of the station which would be over three times the size of the existing ticket hall with eight passenger gates, compared to the existing five.

In addition, a new footbridge would be constructed over the tracks and new stairs to the platforms each double the width of the existing stairs, plus lifts to both platforms.

The existing station entrance and concourse would be converted into a retail unit. The cost of its conversion would be covered separately by TfL commercial property.

Submission of bids to carry out the building work are expected later this year.