Transport for London has plumped for a tram extension that links Sutton town centre with the Northern Line Tube at Colliers Wood.
But they just don’t have the £420million needed to pay for it just yet.
The outcome of a lengthy deliberation of a public consultation was published by TfL last night, with the transport authority opting for what appears to be a compromise option, and certainly not the route favoured by Sutton council leader Ruth Dombey’s LibDems, who were keener on a tram link to Wimbledon which will have also served their multi-million-pound “cancer hub” at Belmont.
It will now be for the councils in Sutton and Merton to find at least half the budget to build any tram link – including a potentially costly new bridge across the existing tram lines at Belgrave Walk – before the scheme will be given a green light. And with TfL budgets groaning under the strain of the over-running CrossRail project, that’s not likely to be any time very soon.
The south London tram network celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, but despite its success in providing an east-west public transport link from Beckenham to Wimbledon via Croydon, it has yet to have any major extensions to celebrate.
The two rejected options – 1 and 3 – with Sutton Link option 2 – in dark blue – getting the nod as a tram route
In ooutlining the options in its consultation, TfL estimated that Option 2 could cost £420million.
In releasing its report on the consultation – which concluded nearly a year ago – TfL stated: “While some of the funding to deliver the project is currently in place, other sources of funding need to be confirmed if the project is to move forward. We are continuing to work with the London Boroughs of Sutton and Merton to explore options for obtaining the remaining funding needed.
“We are also considering how we can collectively access national sources of funding.” In other words: potless.
One significant outcome from the TfL report is the decision to go with a tram extension rather than what they called a “bus rapid transit”, or BRT. The BRT was thought to be TfL’s preferred option, simply on grounds of lower costs – the bus would run on road segregated from traffic where possible, not on rails, though each BRT could carry fewer passengers than the tram.
Of nearly 6,000 responses to the TfL consultation, 86 per cent were in favour of some form of “Sutton Link”, but the overwhelming majority of those favouring a tram, with only 40 per cent supporting the BRT.
The TfL report notes that, “Some of the key reasons informing this route preference are that it has the greatest transport benefits; is the most effective option at regenerating the areas served and supporting new homes; and has fewer delivery challenges compared to the other routes.
“While delivering as a tram is more expensive, compared to the Bus Rapid Transit alternative it has greater transport benefits; enables more new homes; has greater potential for funding; and has much greater support from respondents to the consultation.”
And the report’s authors warn: “If there is a substantial delay to securing funding for the project then this decision would need to be reviewed to identify whether anything has changed which would influence the decision.”
Click here to read the TfL Sutton Link report as a pdf
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or what to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network- Inside Croydon works together with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and BBC London News
- Inside Croydon named Journalist of the Year at 2018 Anna Kennedy Online Autism Heroes Awards
- ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: For three consecutive years, 2017, 2018 and 2019, Inside Croydon has been the source for award-winning nominations in Private Eye magazine’s annual celebration of civic cock-ups
- Inside Croydon had 1.6million pages viewed by 721,000 unique visitors in 2019
I’ve lost track of the number of times TfL have supposedly supported Tramlink extensions, particularly to Crystal Palace. Boris was fond of promising them and then doing nothing. He is good at that.
S London really needs a semi-circular underground linking Kingston, Wimbledon, Morden, Sutton, Wallington, Croydon, Elmers End, Beckenham, Catford, and Lewisham. Half a cart wheel, to link the spokes.
It would make commuting across the outer southern section of the capital so easy. That would really get car travel down. (Or would it traumatise the inhabitants too much, disrupting their local comfort zones, allowing SE Londoners to visit SW London too easily, and vice versa?).
A very good plan. The sooner the rails are laid as they once were from Croydon to the Embankment the better. Trams all over!
I always tend to think, that TfL are very conservative in what they offer. It’s probably because they are politicians wanting a quick fix that someone else will pay for, rather than engineers who know the art of the possible.
TfL have also for years been talking about a Streatham Interchange station, where the Sutton Loop Line crosses the main line. This might allow a better service on the Sutton Loop, perhaps even using tram-trains, which would go walkabout on the Tramlink and take over the Epsom Downs branch, with an additional tram service to the Royal Msrsden, which seems to be a hospital with dreadful public transport access.