Two Bakerloo Line tube stations on the Old Kent Road are being officially proposed as part of the draft planning framework for the ‘Old Kent Road Opportunity Area’.
The two stations would be located at the top and the bottom of the road in an attempt to make the area more accessible to current and new residents by 2030.
This would come as part of wider efforts to build 20,000 new homes, two new primary schools and turn the road itself into a “modern boulevard”.
Councillor Mark Williams, Southwark Council’s cabinet member for regeneration and new homes, said: “As part of Southwark’s work to tackle the housing crisis we have been consulting with local residents, businesses and community groups along the Old Kent Road for the past year on how we can significantly regenerate the area.
“This work culminates in the publication of this Old Kent Road Area Action Plan which sets out how and where we expect 20,000 new homes, 5,000 new jobs, and new parks, schools and health facilities to be built over the next 15-20 years.
“We have listened to local residents and are clearly setting out that we want to extend the Bakerloo Line down the Old Kent Road with two new stations, in addition to the new Overground Station at Surrey Canal Station.
“We also want to see significant improvements to the Old Kent Road itself including bus lanes, cycle lanes, more and better crossings for pedestrians and the creation of a tree lined boulevard from the Lewisham border all the way to Tower Bridge Road.”
The proposed locations of the stations “may change and will be subject to further feasibility work” but are provisionally placed with one near Burgess Park and the other near Toys “R” Us.
The News has previously reported on the dismay of Camberwell residents over the fact that the Bakerloo Line extension will not include them.
To read more about the draft framework, visit http://bit.ly/22vVIPL
The Bakerloo extension is a waste of money and will take years to build. Surely, a much better, quicker and cheaper way to relieve congestion (if that is what the proposal is truly about) would be to re-open Old Kent Road and Camberwell stations. The London Overground already passes over the Old Kent Road and with the coming of Surrey Canal Road station, there will be much better inter-connection with other parts of the rail network.
As for the regeneration, this will turn the area into a ‘dormitory’ with only high income workers and overseas investors being able to afford the prices. Go to Lewisham if you want to see the future. It’s not pretty.
Sorry, but the Toys R Us station should be by the land by Old Kent Rd Car Breakers. TFL can afford to relocate them to another area in the same area, in a land swap or straight buy out. Old Kent Rd Car Breakers are not dependent on their particular location to conduct or sustain a business model. Also doing that would give London Overground and Network Rail an opportunity to work with TFL for an integrated Overground and Underground station on the same site. There is OA for development in the land directly adjacent and further abutting that on the Ilderton Road. Which would make it even more appealing to prospective developers. It would also possible to support future development at the Toy R Us site and its immediate environs for developers. If we are truly talking development, then we need to be thinking a lot more long term and social development of an area, that includes transportation that support sustainable development.