Warning of risk to new-builds unless funding settlement agreed

The delivery of hundreds of thousands of news homes is at risk due to the lack of a long-term funding settlement for Transport for London.

That is the warning from Labour’s London Assembly Planning Spokesman Sakina Sheikh, who pointed to examples including the 25,000 new homes that are reliant on a planned extension of the Bakerloo Line, and the 20,000 new homes planned around an extension of the Docklands Light Railway to Thamesmead.

Development for both transport schemes is currently delayed, while TfL continues to recover its financial position from the significant drop in demand suffered since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic.

On February 25, the Department for Transport announced a fourth short-term emergency settlement to keep public services running until late June (RAIL 952). But the revenue support has been underpinned by a range of conditions, including TfL achieving cost savings of up to £800 million by the end of the 2022-23 financial year.

London Transport Commissioner Andy Byford and Mayor Sadiq Khan have both argued that a lack of a multi-year funding deal could force TfL into a managed decline scenario.

The Government has pledged to agree a longer-term deal by the end of March, although it said this was contingent on TfL meeting the conditions that have been imposed to achieve greater financial sustainability. 

Speaking at Mayor’s Question Time on February 24, Sheikh said: “It’s time for the Government to pull its finger out and give TfL the funding package it needs in the wake of the pandemic. 

“The series of short-term sticking plaster deals announced by ministers so far have held back London’s economic recovery.

“The lack of a long-term capital deal will not just result in significant Tube and bus service cuts, but also lead to the delay or cancellation of key infrastructure projects across the capital that will unlock thousands more homes and jobs.”