A consultation has opened looking at plans to extend the DLR from Beckton to Thamesmead, and potentially beyond.

Thamesmead has long been a rather isolated area with buses to the local Abbey Wood station, but it’s a surprisingly slow journey and adds a substantial amount of time for commuters to work. As part of a wider regeneration of the area, TfL and the Mayor’s office are looking at how to improve the area transport options.

The one that’s likely to be supplied first is the easier to deliver, and that would be improvements to the bus services with a new segregated road bus transit service linking with Woolwich and Abbey Wood.

That would unlock the potential for around 7,500 additional homes in the area.

However, the real prize is likely to be the long mooted extension of the DLR across the Thames from Becton, with new stations built on either side of the Thames, at Armada Riverside and Thamesmead West, and a possible extension down towards Belvedere.

That would also unlock considerably more housing — some 15,500 new homes being projected if the DLR is opened.

Although that would link Thamesmead with the DLR towards Canning Town, there is also a speculative suggestion of the DLR going up towards Barking as well, which would substantially widen the options for faster connections into central London.

However, there’s currently no funding for anything at the moment, so they’re warning that any upgrades will be dependent on the scale of new growth to make a strong case for investment and on the availability of funding for construction.

The consultation is holding a number of public events:

Sat 15 Feb 2020, 1pm – 4pm, Sainsbury’s Abbey Wood, SE2 9NU

Thurs 20 Feb 2020, 5pm-8pm, Thamesmere Library, SE28 8DT

Tues 25 Feb 2020, 5pm – 8pm Sports Club Thamesmead, Mead Bar, SE28 8NJ

Weds 26 Feb 2020, 10am – 5.30pm Thamesmead Information Hub, DA18 4BW

There is also the exceptionally long url for their website:

https://thamesmeadandabbeywoodframework.commonplace.is/news