A REPORT on the cost of installing a lift at Pokesdown Railway Station is due to be completed next month.

Representatives of South West Trains, which is carrying out the feasibility study, will meet with Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood and local campaigners on September 11 to discuss sourcing funding for the work.

Andy Jones, formerly the Pokesdown Community Forum secretary and now a councillor for Boscombe East, said: "We need a figure before we can start talking about applying for funds.

"Hopefully we will have that back in the next few weeks and can look into whether there is any funding remaining under the government's Access for All scheme, or whether a new tranche will be made available in the coming months.

"Things are moving on, albeit relatively slowly, and we are committed to improving the totally unsatisfactory situation at present."

Residents, and the forum, have been campaigning for years to have a lift installed at the station, where passengers have to negotiate more than 40 steep steps down to the platforms.

They argue the lack of accessibility facilities makes the station difficult to use for people with disabilities, pushchairs and heavy baggage.

Mr Jones said South West Trains had agreed to improve the information available at Pokesdown station on its assisted travel scheme, which allows people with disabilities to get cabs to other nearby stations with better accessibility infrastructure.

"This scheme has been very poorly advertised," he said.

"South West Trains are looking into making the information about how much it costs and how it works a lot clearer."

Last month South West Trains said a new feasibility study would cost around £40,000 to complete, however the company later confirmed a previous study from 2008 would be updated instead at no cost to campaigners.

At that time, Mr Ellwood said he believed the cost of the lift would likely be around £1million.