Bakerloo line extension: Council to allocate further funds
A Southwark Council meeting next week is set to discuss allocating funding to help a possible Bakerloo line extension.
While the line’s extension is reliant on assistance from the Treasury – and successive governments have failed to allocate agree money to get tunneling underway – preparatory work to permit the line and a potential 20,000 homes continue with Southwark allocating Community Infrastructure Levy funds obtained via new developments across the borough.
The authority have previously used CIL funds for an upgrade of the existing Elephant and Castle station which serves as the southern terminus of the Bakerloo. In total £71.5m of CIL funding was allocated to supplement TfL funds.
Route of Bakerloo line extension
If an extension is built beyond the Elephant and Castle, Lewisham would be the likely initial destination. Taking over the Hayes line from Southeastern Metro has also been proposed though Bromley Council are not particularly keen.
Last week this site looked at plans moving ahead for new homes on an Old Kent Road site and Southwark’s report before next week’s Cabinet meeting offers information on that scheme with £2,373,563 to be provided in CIL funds.
The report states: “The site is located directly above the future BLE tunnel on land safeguarded by the Secretary of State for Transport in 2021.
“Below ground mitigation to future proof the site is required, ensuring that the foundations of development attenuate acoustic and vibration impacts from the tunnel and remove any risk associated with the impact of pressure on the tunnel from the building above.”
The full extension’s cost will be in the billions hence these funds are merely to keep things ticking along in advance of any central government support.
Southwark note in the report the total available via Strategic CIL funds is £30.86m.
Study with boroughs and TfL
In addition a modest £30,000 is to also be spent on a Bakerloo Line Extension Funding Study. Other boroughs and TfL are also involved:
“Southwark, together with TfL, Lewisham and Central London Forward are commissioning a funding study to assess potential sources of local (London) funding to contribute towards the capital costs required for the construction of the Bakerloo Line Extension.
In devising a funding package, it is likely that government would expect London to make a contribution to costs, following the precedents of the Northern Line extension and Crossrail. The study will assess the scale of funds that could be generated and potential sources including CIL, s106 contributions, Mayoral CIL, the net operating surplus on the line, over-station development and retention of business rates.
The study will inform discussions with Treasury and DfT and the approach to preparing a Transport and Works Act order. The cost of the study will be shared between the organisations involved”
Development
Meanwhile a number of substantial developments continue to be approved or rise along the proposed route with a particular emphasis on areas to the south close to New Cross.
Projects include rebuilding the Ledbury estate, new homes on the Tuston Estate along with many plots along Ilderton Road.
Homes are also under construction above a rebuilt Aldi supermarket. A nearby Lidl is the projected site of one Old Kent Road station.
Ruby Triangle is now back underway after a hiatus and will see 1,152 homes.
As an interim measure a “Bakerloop” express bus was raised by Sadiq Khan before the Mayoral election though little concrete has been heard since. The Bakerloo line currently sees 52 year old trains with a replacement order necessary.
Plans to extend the Bakerloo line have been around for 90 years with Camberwell an early candidate. Consultations were undertaken in 2014, 2017 and 2019 but as yet no confirmation despite numerous housing plots underway and proposed.
