Recently in Docklands Light Railway Category

The lovely David Thame of EG called me to pick my brains about his upcoming feature for the magazine on the prospects for London regeneration schemes.  In a (somewhat breathless) list he was seeking intelligence on Elephant and Castle, the East End (Stratford, Bromley by Bow, Royal Docks) and Battersea Power Station ("just because something is up for sale", he asked, "does that mean there will be activity?") with Nine Elms generally.  Oh, and for good measure, Earls Court, Wembley, the Greenwich Peninsula, Canning Town, Lewisham Gateway and Brent Cross/Cricklewood.
 
Whew! I said.  Calm down dear, for goodness sake, you'll have a hernia!  
 
But he was seeking some proper thoughts on which of these could be serious prospects for progress in 2012, and which might end up moving a little slower, so of course I tried to be helpful.  But you won't be surprised to learn my prognosis was a little bleak.

Up to South Kilburn on Tuesday morning for the launch of the Granville New Homes development (pictured) with Brent Housing Partnership; guest of honour being Richard McCarthy CBE, director general at the CLG.

And - despite the rain - what a very jolly affair it was too!

It was lovely to see Richard, who I first knew when he was on the PRP Board at Paddington (and chief executive of the Peabody Trust) and who, later, when I was in the Thames Gateway at Kent Thameside and he was at the then-ODPM, was our senior report in government.

By this point (which must have been about 2005, I guess) Richard was held in such reverence in Kent circles that I was once - seriously - formally reprimanded for behaving "inappropriately with a civil servant at MIPIM" (a reference to an incident when I had kissed the blessed McCarthy on the top of his head as I was leaving a dinner and, yes, of course I had partaken of a glass or two of Vimto, although I would have done the self same thing had I been sober!).

 

The first thing for Mr Altman to tackle on starting in post at the Olympics Legacy Company on 1st August is the nonsense of the current proposals for the new DLR extension to Stratford International from Canning Town. We are sooooo missing a trick here.

The aerial photo on the left shows what, in my humble opinion, the line should do in order to drop in to the Media Centre site and create a hub (combined with the planned bus depot and station upgrade at Hackney Wick, not to mention the 1,200 odd space multi-storey car park). The thick blue line shows the approximate route. The line should continue from Stratford International and loop around the park following existing boundaries (like the A12).

The Media Centre is about 11ha or so and in terms of the Main Press Centre (MPC) and Broadcast Centre (IBC) is providing about 1.3m sq ft. Assuming a clean slate and a site coverage of 25% and an average height of 20 storeys (small compared to Canary Wharf) you would get 6m sq ft, a gain of about 5m sq ft. Not an inconsiderable uplift for a small amount of extra track.

One of my little friends has measured the approximate route for me and makes it 2.5 km.

This is a public transport opportunity that the Swiss would be proud of. Why oh why are we not (literally) more joined up?