No go for "step-free access" at West Hampstead Jubilee line station

We now have "step-free access" - which pretty much means lifts - at West Hampstead Thameslink station, and lifts are planned for the Overground station in 2014 or some time after that depending on the development of the "Ballymore site" on West End Lane.

So it's disappointing that the third West Hampstead interchange station, the Jubilee Line station, doesn't have lifts or escalators, which would make West Hampstead a totally step-free interchange.

Caroline Pidgeon, the Lib Dem Chair of the GLA's transport committee recently took this up for me with a question to Mayor Johnson, which got the rather disappointing reply below. What's surprising is that a few years ago the news agent located inside the station was moved out, and we were told it was because a lift was going to be installed at that point - but it never happened. I'm chasing that one up. And any other bright ideas will be very welcome.
 
Question from Caroline Pidgeon

Do you agree that West Hampstead station which sits on both the Jubilee and London Overground lines is a good candidate for being made step free?

Written response from the Mayor

The London Overground and Jubilee line at West Hampstead serve separate stations located approximately 100 metres apart from one another. There is also West Hampstead Thameslink station a little further along West End Lane.

The Thameslink station already offers step-free access and funding towards a step-free access scheme at the Overground station has been secured from the DfT’s Access for All programme. The programme and scope of this work are currently being developed.

Regrettably there is no funding to undertake works at the Tube station. Aside from the funding question, the Underground station would not be an easy location at which to install step-free facilities. This is because the small ticket hall sits on a road bridge above the tracks carrying the Jubilee, Metropolitan and Chiltern lines.  The station is also surrounded by various separately owned properties and there is no space for a lift.

Customers in the West Hampstead area who require a step-free route to central London or need to access the Tube network can use Thameslink services to a number of stations in zone 1 including King’s Cross St Pancras, Farringdon, Blackfriars and London Bridge, all of which are now fully accessible.