Camberwell campaigners say they are “very disappointed” by a report on the Bakerloo line extension which seems to favour an alternative route down the Old Kent Road.
Transport for London released the report last week, which responded to issues raised in a public consultation held between September and December last year.
The extension, which will not open until 2030, could run from the Elephant and Castle to Lewisham via Peckham and Camberwell or the Old Kent Road, or both.
Although 64 percent of the 15,346 responses to the consultation were in favour of the Camberwell route – compared to 49 percent supporting the OId Kent Road option – the report highlights the need for the project to be funded by future development.
The Old Kent Road has been earmarked as an Opportunity Area for 2,500 new homes, which could help to bankroll the extension, and the TfL report states that although it is considering the needs of the capital’s existing residents, “a key driver of the proposed extension is enabling new development in south east London. It is unlikely an extension can happen without this new development.”
Campaspe Lloyd-Jacob of PACT (Peckham and Camberwell Tube) said: “This is about people who already live in London and struggle to get to and from work needing to be given priority over people who are not yet here.
“It’s terribly unfair. What’s the point of asking the question if they’re then going to ignore the answer? It’s pretty disappointing,” she added.
Cllr Mark Williams, Southwark’s cabinet member for regeneration and new homes, said he was continuing to lobby for both routes as they were both areas which were currently under-served by public transport and said he had kept this option on the table.
But Campaspe is not optimistic after a TfL representative told a meeting of the Camberwell Community Council that split routes were not favoured in general because of difficulties with timetabling.
TfL is still reviewing the suggestions made by the public and is preparing to launch a second round of consultation in 2016 on more detailed proposals.
Tough – the “OKR” area needs it more, I think.
Try campaigning for the pre-existing, but long-closed stations on the Blackfriars line to be re-opened?
Yeah, for high throughput services, TfL prefers to run single-line services. The OKR route is less bendy too, and obviously also needs a service, and at least there will be a station near the OKR end of Albany Road.
I think the solution is to reopen the Camberwell station on the Blackfriar’s route, but there doesn’t seem to be much enthusiasm for that in National Rail, probably because the location isn’t ideal – it should be a little more north where there is no space to build a station at all.
Agree – the most sensible compromise overwhelmingly seems to be re-opening Camberwell station and then extending the Bakerloo line down OKR. Also desirable because it shouldn’t take until 2030 to complete!
Im not against Old Kent Road it’s still a good idea however the original proposals was supposed to be camberwell and peckham it’s a long time coming and they already built a tunnel going there let’s finish what we started. Maybe there should be a Crossrail 3 going deep SE and deep NW and serving Old Kent Road