Surrey Canal Road and the proposed new station name derive from Grand Surrey Canal which went from Surrey Commercial Docks at Rotherhithe to Camberwell and Peckham via this area. The canal carried timber to the docks from the 19th century until their closure in the late 1960s. The canal remained as a waterway until it was infilled for safety reasons in the mid-1970s and turned into the present road linking Ilderton Road, SE16, with Trundleys Road, SE8. This area known as the 'Surrey Canal Triangle' has begun to be identified as the Surrey Canal district in its own right. It was announced in February 2009 that the line extension would be built but that funding for a station at Surrey Canal Road might not be available. Lewisham Council agreed in principle in January 2010 to provide the missing funding to complete Surrey Canal Road station. Transport for London is committed to building the foundations for the station building and platforms to enable construction to take place readily should funding be found. In September 2010, the Department for Transport refused to provide £7 million for building the station as it would not provide good value for money.
Renaming
In 2014, the developers, Renewal, working in partnership with TfL proposed a re-brand of the area to "New Bermondsey", the name of which was be used by the station and as the name for a whole new district of London. In 2015, TfL confirmed that the area of major development surrounding the station would be named "New Bermondsey" and that the station would have the same name, and in February 2015, Surrey Canal was renamed New Bermondsey and designated a Housing Zone by the GLA. In December 2015, S73 planning consent was granted.
2016–present
In September 2016, Lewisham Council's mayor and cabinet voted in favour of the local authority's compulsory purchase order powers being used at New Bermondsey. In February 2017, an independent inquiry was launched by Lewisham Council to investigate allegations made by Millwall Football Club about New Bermondsey and the Surrey Canal Sports Foundation. In November 2017, the independent inquiry report was published and concluded that there was no wrongdoing on the part of Renewal or Lewisham Council. In March 2018, Lewisham Council lost £20 million funding for the redevelopment of New Bermondsey from the Greater London Authority, which included £12 million for a station. In August 2019, the Government approved a Housing Infrastructure Fund bid for the new station. Construction work has yet to start.
Development in the local area
Surrey Canal Triangle
A large £850m development around The Den, provisionally called Surrey Canal: London's Sporting Village, has been approved. Renewal, the developer, agreed in late 2011 to fund the missing capital needed for the new station, and Lewisham Council's strategic planning committee resolved to grant the application at a meeting on 13 October 2011. Planning permission under Section 106 was agreed in January 2012, securing its construction.
Neptune Wharf
In March 2012 planning permission was also granted to create a new residential and leisure development at the junction of Surrey Canal, Trundleys and Grinstead Roads in North Deptford. The scheme will be branded Neptune Wharf, taking its name from the former Neptune Chemical Works which once lined the canal between Trundleys Road and Evelyn Street. Of significance is the plan to re-open part of the canal tow path and opening up of the railway arches between Deptford Park and Folkestone Gardens to create a piazza alongside the new apartments. There is also a planned development of the area between Plough Way and Oxestalls Road, the point at which the canal ran parallel with Evelyn Street on its last leg to the Commercial Docks system. The new scheme of residential apartments will also feature a distinctive waterway, replicating the original line of the canal. This is similar to the Albion Channel, approximately to the north, which replicates the original Albion Dock near where Canada Water station now stands.
New Bermondsey
When being renamed New Bermondsey, the new developments will now include shops, restaurants, business space and new leisure and sports and multi-faith facilities along with up to 2,400 new homes, replacing warehouses, light industrial estates and a handful of 1990s-built residential blocks. The first two out of five development phases are scheduled for construction between Q2 2018 and 2020.
