A grassroots campaign to prevent lift shafts being built on Wandsworth Common during Crossrail 2 works is celebrating a small victory for people power.

Wandsworth Times:

If agreed the north-south rail scheme could come to Tooting Broadway and Clapham Junction and would cost up to £28bn. Construction could start in 2017.

However, park users and neighbours were worried two large work sites, to create ventilation and access shafts, could be opened up on the common as part of the works.

The consultation received thousands of submissions from people objecting to the proposed sites.

Now, the Crossrail 2 team will work to remove the areas on Wandsworth Common and Trinity Fields from the consultation and seek alternative locations.

Tooting's prospective Parliamentary candidate for the Conservatives, Dan Watkins, said: "There is more to do, so I will continue to work with the Save Wandsworth Common campaign to have Crossrail 2 consider an alternative route alignment which will divert the tunnel away from Wandsworth Common and Trinity Fields altogether.

"But this is an important first victory, which ensures that the initial, and inappropriate, choice of location for these shafts is not progressed."

A spokesman for the Save Wandsworth Common campaign said: "It’s great that Crossrail 2 have listened to the 3,000 Save Wandsworth Common supporters who emailed their objections to the proposed surface works, but the threat should be removed altogether by finding a better route away from the common."

Sarah Parsons, trustee of Trinity Fields, said she was pleased with the support from local people and added: "The location of an access shaft on Trinity Fields could have stopped their use as a community sports facility not just for a couple of years but potentially for good."

Tooting MP Sadiq Khan also raised a number of concerns with the commission and argued the Crossrail plans could lead to the destruction of a cricket pitch.

He said: "It was clear that the original locations for the shafts had been chosen without any knowledge of the area. I am pleased that together with local residents we have been able to bring this to the attention of Crossrail managers and the common sense has been prevailed."