The campaign to extend the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) across the river to Thamesmead has stepped up with two MPs raising the issue.

The Minister for London, and now a prospective candidate for Mayor of London, Paul Scully MP paid a visit to Thamesmead last week to hear about the proposals, while local MP, Abena Oppong-Asare MP has written to the Transport Secretary calling for the railway to be built.

If built, then the DLR extension would run in a new spur off the Beckton branch to a new station near Beckton Riverside and then across the river to Thamesmead.

The extension is considered essential to enable the construction of around 30,000 homes, mostly in the Thamesmead area, where a large swathe of land has been earmarked for development. The difficulty with building so many homes in Thamesmead is that it has very poor local transport links to the rest of London, meaning that a lot of people won’t want to live there unless transport links are improved.

Although Transport for London (TfL) has funding to carry out feasibility studies and is optimistic that the business case is sound, there’s no funding yet for the railway itself to be built.

Some of the costs would come from the property developer, and likely the councils, but as a transport investment, the bulk would have to be in the form of a loan or grant from the central government.

And there’s an increasing lobbying campaign to secure the funding.

Abena Oppong-Asare, who represents Erith and Thamesmead wrote to the Secretary of State for Transport Mark Harper noting that in the years of campaigning for the rail link she has “only ever heard warm words from an ever-growing cast list of transport ministers”, but that “while we are told the DLR is always on the way, it somehow never arrives.”

She noted that the opportunities for local economic growth are plain to see and the chance to ‘level up’ this part of London is real, and she has urged the Secretary of State to expedite the process to deliver the DLR to Thamesmead.

Meanwhile, the Minister for London, Paul Scully met councillors from Greenwich and Newham councils at Thamesmead last week to talk about the proposed extension.

The two councils, TfL, the Greater London Authority (GLA), Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and local landowners are working together to campaign for the proposals. The partnership, known as the Thamesmead and Beckton Riverside Public Transport Delivery Board, are asking for the government to help support work on feasibility studies and development of the proposals.

The group were also joined by landowners including Peabody, Abrdn and St William, who detailed the economic benefits new development and improved connectivity would bring for both local residents and businesses. The new homes would be complemented by 55 hectares of open space, shops, leisure and cultural facilities.