Transport for London has opened a new public consultation on its plans for extending the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) from the south of Newham beneath the Thames into Greenwich and creating two new stations, one on each side of the river.
The scheme would see a new branch of DLR track begin between the existing Gallions Reach and Beckton stations, connecting to a Beckton Riverside station opposite Gallions Reach Shopping Park and a Thamesmead station on the south bank of the Thames via a tunnel under the river.
The extension would facilitate the development of the two areas with housing and amenities, which TfL is describing as being “among the largest remaining brownfield sites in London” and between them potentially able to “support up to 30,000 homes” .
The owners of Gallions Reach Shopping Park, the Edinburgh-based Aberdeen Standard Investments, have in the past expressed a wish to enlarge the site into fully-formed town centre, adding housing and commercial premises. It was subsequently announced by TfL, in December 2020, that the company would contribute to the £1 million cost of a feasibility study for the DLR scheme.
The Thamesmead station would be built on a 100 hectare (247 acre) site called Thames Waterfront owned by Peabody, the leading housing association already undertaking a major regeneration of the 1960s Thamesmead Brutalist housing estate through a combination of renovation, demolition and new homes. Thames Waterfront has also been shortlisted by the government for one of its two London New Towns, alongside Crews Hill and Chase Park in Enfield.
The new consultation will be open until 16 July and TfL says construction work “could begin in 2029, subject to funding and approvals” with a “final scheme” to be designed ahead of an intended application for a Transport and Works Act Order early next year. TfL hopes that the extension will open “in the early 2030s”.
In November, the government confirmed its support for the scheme in its autumn budget following chancellor Rachel Reeves not mentioning it in her Spending Review speech the previous June. However, soon after the speech transport secretary Heidi Alexander told TfL that the government recognised “the potential housing and economic growth that could be stimulated by extending the DLR” and acknowledged the “substantial work” already undertaken.
The total cost of the extension has been estimated at £1.5 billion, with the bulk of the money coming from loans raised by TfL and the Greater London Authority and the government contributing as well, thoiugh how much is not yet known.
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