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Boris Johnson is planning an extension of the Northern line from Kennington to Battersea power station.
The Mayor, Transport for London and Wandsworth and Lambeth councils want government permission to raise money for the project.
They hope to use a financial model involving the sale of council bonds to fund the £850 million scheme.
The method has not been used in Britain before but is common in America. Investment in the bonds is repaid via an increase in business rates when the regeneration of an area is completed.
Reader views (4)
Sorry to harp on about the Cross River Tram, but for the same cost as these two tube stops (one of which would admittedly benefit me greatly), we could have built the entire tram route, benefiting a far greater number of people.
The tube line's not a bad idea in principle, but to be honest I think there are projects out there that deliver more benefit to more people for equal or less cost.
Also... Boris didn't really come up with the plans at all - the plans were devised by the developer of the Battersea site.
- Mark Lee, Vauxhall, 01/07/2009 08:05
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Living in Vauxhall, the plans for the Northern Line extension are a wonderful proposal. The area is being greatly redeveloped and with increasing office space and the US Embassy, we are going to need better transport links.
I was greatly saddened when the Tram project to the area was shelved by Boris. The extension to the Northern Line may be some compensation.
Battersea is a nightmare to get to, and the new tube could make a huge difference to Vauxhall, Nine Elms and Battersea. Fingers crossed we don't loose the character and community the areas are known for as a result of being more attractive to developers and commerce.
- Ian, London, UK, 30/06/2009 11:44
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At least Boris has rooted out and sacked the bad apples! Put simply, if his staff disobey the rules, they're out, just as they would be in any other organisation. Any transport scheme is always fraught with concerns and finanacial headaches, but if we let that get in our way, London would have stopped ages ago. Unfortunately, politics always has to rear its ugly head. Ken was right with the Tramlink and DLR projects, and Boris was wrong to shelve them, but that does not mean they're completely forgotten; they may well be resurrected in due course. But before we do any more extensions, can Boris & Co, please upgrade the current network and make it free from signal failures, train breakdowns, points/track failures and other engineering failures. That, above all else, is what the travelling Londoner wants.
- Joannie, London, England, 28/06/2009 22:59
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Boris can always put it on his credit card. Just think if he stopped using Taxis we could afford this scheme and Crossrail 2 and still have change for the tip.
Boris cancelled the fully developed Tramlink extension to Crystal Palace and Tram and DLR schemes this is just a fantasy project given that he has already cancelled step-free upgrades to the existing tube when there is money available.
Of course wasting nearly 3 million pounds extra to remove artic buses from routes the existing buses could have continued to run on shows a total lack of reality that Boris has.
Anyway this scheme was meant to be paid for by property developers in Nine elms, Battersea!
As to Financial Bonds well thats how Ken wanted to finance the tube upgrade and is in fact a similar way to how the original London Transport Board funded tube extensions in the 1930's so nothing new there.
With over 25% of his term gone he still has nothing apart from fallen deputies to show for it.
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 28/06/2009 16:53
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