TfL funding row threatens major housing projects
Sadiq Khan has warned that failure to secure funding for London’s ailing transport provider will risk thousands of homes at some of the capital’s largest regenerations.
Transport for London’s current deal with central government is set to expire this week, preventing major projects in Colindale, Greenwich and Old Kent Road.
In June, the government agreed to provide £1.08bn in finance on the condition that TfL lay out plans for new income and savings. This included plans to find £300m this year, and a target to double revenue to £1bn by 2023. That deal and financing is set to expire on 11 December.
Sadiq Khan has warned that failure to secure funding for London’s ailing transport provider will risk thousands of homes at some of the capital’s largest regenerations.
Transport for London’s current deal with central government is set to expire this week, preventing major projects in Colindale, Greenwich and Old Kent Road.
In June, the government agreed to provide £1.08bn in finance on the condition that TfL lay out plans for new income and savings. This included plans to find £300m this year, and a target to double revenue to £1bn by 2023. That deal and financing is set to expire on 11 December.
TfL has asked the government for further operational support through to the end of 2021-22 and for £1.2bn for the 2022-23 financial year. Beyond that, TfL needs “sustainable capital investment”, it said, adding that every major transport network needs investment to improve.
However, the government wants to pull all funds and has called on TfL to become financially self-sufficient, for example using commercial property activity for income from April 2023.
Without funding, TfL has said it will not be able to provide funds via the Growth Fund, putting 6,000 homes at Colindale in Barnet at risk. It also said it will not be able to provide a second station entrance at Walthamstow Central, needed to support the housing development around the shopping centre. The group added that it also risks 30,000 homes in Beckton Riverside and Greenwich, which are dependent on the extension of the Docklands Light Railway towards Thamesmead and Beckton.
The mayor said a “managed decline” scenario without support will make the Bakerloo line extension along the Old Kent Road undeliverable for at least a decade, risking some 25,000 homes in the opportunity area.
Khan said: “Failing to adequately fund TfL is a dereliction of the government’s duty to our capital city, the people of London and the country as a whole.
“We are in the middle of a housing crisis that cannot be solved if parts of the capital remain cut off from transport links or if vital schemes that improve access to town centres are not able to be delivered.
“There can be no national economic recovery without a London recovery, and there can be no London recovery without a properly funded public transport network in the capital.”
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