Another tower submitted off the Old Kent Road: Will rail improvements happen?
Image courtesy Henshall and Partners.
Plans have gone in for another block just off the Old Kent Road in what is an emerging cluster of tall buildings.
This site at 301-303 Ilderton Road is the latest of many proposals in this area located north of Old Kent Road with South Bermondsey station the closest place to catch a train.
Details on Southwark council’s site show 241 Purpose-Built Student Accommodation units in the 19-floor block. It’s currently a hand car wash and a shorter block was approved in September 2025.
As with many submissions and plans in the area much is made about the proposed Bakerloo line extension. Only trouble is after nearly a century of talk it’s still not funded and this government shows little interest in doing so.
Take a look at the image above in the application’s Design and Access Statement. It doesn’t feature all plans including New Bermondsey around Millwall’s New Den ground. There’s a TfL roundel shown where a Bakerloo line station is proposed. Without it the area circled in red is the nearest station for many at South Bermondsey with Southern trains calling and taking 4-5 minutes to reach London Bridge.
Currently there’s three transport options on the table when it comes to rail or tube:
- Bakerloo line extension. Not happening any time soon.
- Surrey Canal Road station. Long talked about. Still not funded.
- South Bermondsey station. Exists, takes 5 minutes to reach zone 1 and has four trains an hour. Only trouble is the station is far from appalling to use with a grotty, secluded entrance and minimal staffing. It’s the cheapest and easiest to do.
Still waiting
As things stand none of those three potential improvements are confirmed as plans roll in and new builds complete.
This image does a better job of showing what’s either underway or proposed. The number near South Bermondsey station alone is massive.
The latest plan looks titchy amongst all that.
But anyway, without some investment in rail we’ll end up with too many homes for existing services but a limit also placed on the amount of homes that are possible. Worst of both worlds.
Question now is will government support the Bakerloo line? It really doesn’t look likely. Will funds for Surrey Canal Road happen? Surely it will though not soon. And finally will modest investment go into improving South Bermondsey station? It seems a no-brainer with this level of development but National Rail and rail operating companies have a generally very poor record in London.
See Elephant & Castle, Loughborough Junction, Kidbrooke, Plumstead, Deptford etc. All undergoing massive changes but station staffing is no different to the 1990s. Others have poor quality entrances and public realm.
Few take advantage of the rapidly changing urban landscape in the midst. Will South Bermondsey given all that’s happening nearby and no chance of the Bakerloo?
