New funding found to build a new Overground station at Surrey Canal Road
Plans for a new London Overground station at Surrey Canal Road have been amended to allow the nearby housing developer to contribute more to the cost of building the station. However, the agreement will see a reduction in the number of affordable houses being included in the Surrey Canal Triangle development area.

The housing development around the Millwall football club is being delivered in five phases, and the additional contribution by the developer of £17.17 million towards the Overground station will be offset by reducing the affordable housing in the second phase of the development
In total, the development will provide 3,518 new homes, of which 1,232 were to be affordable, and that’s been reduced to 1,132 affordable homes, equating to a total of 32.6% by units and 39% by habitable room.
Along with the previously agreed contributions to bus service improvements, the developer is now paying £25 million towards transport upgrades in the area.
A new station next to the housing development has long been planned, and passive provision for one was included when the Overground was extended to Clapham Junction, waiting for the time that the station would eventually be built.
To get the station started, Transport for London (TfL) had previously secured government funding through the Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF), which supports transport upgrades that can help unlock stalled housing developments to cover some of the cost of the new station, with an expected £10 million from the housing developer.
At the time, the station was expected to cost around £21.2 million.
However, when the development was granted planning permission in February 2022, the affordability test presented to the council showed that the development couldn’t provide both £10 million towards the new London Overground station and affordable housing. As there was now HIF funding for the station, the council agreed to waive the developer’s contribution to the station in exchange for more affordable housing.
The cost of the station has risen to an estimated £25 million, but other competing priorities at TfL have now diverted at least some of the funding they expected to receive for the new station to other projects.
Therefore, Lewisham Council has now agreed to change the plans to permit the removal of some of the affordable homes in exchange for a higher payment towards the railway station build.
The £17.17 million developer contribution doesn’t cover the full cost of building the station, and if the gap can’t be met from other sources, there is an option that some of the bus upgrades could be redirected to pay for the station if the bus upgrades can be shown to be unnecessary in the long term.
Another change was that Phases 2-5 of the housing development couldn’t start until the Overground station was open (a Grampian obligation), but due to the delays with the station build, TfL has agreed to amend that restriction so that it applies from when construction of the station has started, not when it is completed. That allows the developer to push on with building new houses while the station is being built at the same time.
Overall, the changes mean a small reduction in affordable housing, which isn’t ideal, but the offset is that a new London Overground station is built where one has long been desired. In an area with fairly weak transport links (it has a PTAL score of just 2 out of 6), it’s a sensible compromise.
I find the PTAL ratings kind of interesting. I live on the map above, quite near the boat station – I feel I have very good access to public transport. It’s a 10~15 minute walk to Surrey Quays station, sure, but a nice walk at that, and then there’s a fair few options from there. Maybe I have Stockholm syndrome.
Meanwhile, when I’ve been to the area where they’re building the new station, I’ve always found much more difficult to find transport options.