Infrastructure upgrades could unlock 60,000 homes over the next decade under plans to return capital to 1990s growth rates

Sadiq Khan has pledged to start work on three major rail schemes in the capital over the next 10 years as part of plans to unlock nearly 60,000 new homes.

Extensions to the Bakerloo Line, the Docklands Light Railway and the West London Orbital have all been included in the latest London Growth plan, published by the mayor of London and London councils.

The 104-page document, which outlines a series of actions aiming to return the capital to the high growth rates of the 1990s and 2000s, also includes an ambition to 鈥渨ork towards鈥 starting the long-delayed Crossrail 2 scheme from south to north London.

Bakerloo Line Extension

Route for the Bakerloo Line extension

Transport for London has been proposing an extension of the Bakerloo line east from Elephant and Castle for more than a decade but mothballed the upgrade in 2022 due to the impact of the covid pandemic.

Khan has now said he is prioritising starting the project, which the report says will unlock 20,000 homes, within the next 10 years as part of a strategy to ease London鈥檚 housing shortage.

Current plans for the line being drawn up by Aecom and WW&P would include four new stations at Burgess Park, Old Kent Road, New Cross Gate and Lewisham.

The Dockland Light Railway extension east from Gallions Reach to new housing developments in Thamesmead is said to have the potential to unlock 30,000 homes, while an extension of the West London Orbital between Hounslow and West Hampstead could unlock 7,000 homes.

The Crossrail 2 scheme, a new southwest to north line including a core route through the central London, would unlock some 200,000 new homes, according to the report.

Starting in suburbs south west of Wimbledon, the route would join with the Elizabeth Line at Tottenham Court Road and continue north through Euston where it would link with the planned London terminus of HS2.

While HS2 tunnelling to Euston is yet to start, construction of the line鈥檚 current terminus at Old Oak Common by a joint venture between Balfour Beatty, Vinci and Systra is well underway.

Analysis by Arcadis commissioned by HS2 has claimed the scheme could bring 22,000 homes to the area surrounding Old Oak Common and boost the local economy by 拢10bn over the next decade.

Planning applications within a 1.5 mile radius of the site have risen by 22% since 2017 and have a combined value of 拢3.4bn, more than four times higher than in the preceding seven-year period, according to the research.

When complete, Old Oak Common will be one of the best connected stations in the UK, linking with the HS2 network to the West Midlands with its underground platforms, while eight further surface level platforms will link to the Elizabeth Line, the Great Western Railway and the Heathrow Express.