SE London (Camberwell mostly, but other lines too)

Tube line 'may extend south within 20 years'

Feb 10 2006

By Paul Rhys


DREAMS of a new Tube station could be realised within 20 years.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone has written to campaigners saying proposals to extend the Bakerloo Line to Camberwell are being considered.

Plans to continue tunnelling from Elephant & Castle - the current terminus - down to Camberwell Green were originally drawn up in the 1920s before the Second World War and the and the Depression put paid to the project.

Campaigners resurrected the scheme last month, but Transport for London (TfL) said transport contracts were tied up until at least 2012.

That put paid to hopes of a Tube station being built before the Olympics comes to London, and last week Southwark council leader Nick Stanton said it could be 50 years before the dream was realised.

But Mr Livingstone's statement will give heart to those desperate for a new transport link in South-east London.

In an email seen by the South London Press, Mr Livingstone said TfL and

London Underground (LU) were now "taking a 20-year look ahead".

He said: "LU is starting to examine the potential for extending lines to serve inner South London, including areas like Camberwell.

"This could include extending the Bakerloo line from Elephant & Castle, extending the Northern line from Kennington or the Victoria line from Brixton."

Brunswick Park councillor Alison Moise, who was born and grew up in Camberwell, said that the campaign had "awoken a sleeping giant".

She said: "I welcome the news, but fear Camberwell will go down the tube within 20 years if it's not linked into TfL's current Underground extension plans.

"We have awoken a sleeping giant. But Southwark council and others should have lobbied hard in 2004 when the £1billion Tube plan was announced.

"That's how the East London line extension to Clapham Junction was achieved."

Fellow campaigner, Cllr Ian Wingfield, said Camberwell had a strong case.

He said: "At last we have someone in authority acknowledging the case for a Camberwell Tube station and not on a 50-year timescale as Cllr Stanton suggested.

"Our campaign will not now go underground as the economic and social arguments for a Camberwell Tube still remain powerful compared with other areas."