Perhaps I have missed something, from reading my emails on the subject I understood that they were talking about Oyster barriers at the bottom of the stairs rather than a crude gate as we have today at the top of the stairs. I assumed that the point of moving the gate/barrier to the bottom of the stairs is to provide automated Oyster controlled system rather than people standing at the gate to manually swipe.
I agree that these exit needs to be available at all times that trains run, they did also like the idea of an exit further down the platform, although this is highly unlikely to be available in June this year.
I shall make sure I find out further details of the current proposals for the gate/gates at the bottom of the stairs and times of operation.