"...Merton Council is installing a walkway from the main road to the station
which will make step free access from the overbridge from the London Road
direction quicker and easier than using the existing footpath and road."

Don't know if that makes any more sense - does it just separate people from
the access road and the junction?

If I were there - and I have been there with a child in a pushchair,
but northbound - I would always use the direct route; it looks much
quicker and it does not have that zigzg.