Londoners have given overwhelming support to long-awaited plans for extending the Bakerloo line further into south London from Elephant Castle.

Transport for London has received one of its largest-ever responses to a consultation, which is proposing the extension of the Tube to Lewisham, and potentially even as far as Hayes.

Some 96% of the 15,000 people who responded backed the project, which has been mooted for many years and is estimated to cost around £3bn.

More than 11,000 people said they supported it on the basis it would regenerate the area, which is currently least served by the city's Tube network, through new developments. Over 50 per cent said it would provide better connectivity.

Three quarters of responses came from residents of Southwark, Lewisham and Bromley, the major areas through which the line, dubbed locally the "Bakerloowisham", will pass.

The two route options on the table, one running through Camberwell and Peckham Rye and the other through Old Kent Road, both gained strong support.

The Camberwell option gained support from 64% of respondents while the Old Kent Road route gained 49% backing.

TfL, which as recently as 2012 said the project was not high on its list of priorities, said the "vital new transport link" would help spur jobs, new homes and regeneration in south east London

"This extension has huge potential to breathe a new lease of life into south London’s opportunity areas, as well as delivering urgently needed rapid transit capacity in the area," said Mayor of London Boris Johnson, who's massive London Infrastructure Plan 2050 report resurfaced the plan and got the ball rolling.

TfL will now assess some of the suggestions raised in the consultation and make a decision on the exact route and how far it should stretch. It's likely a final decision won't come until next year.

The timeline for the project is expected to be 2025 to begin construction as it will take time to gain the funding required and completion during "the early 2030s". 

Peter Hendy, TfL's commissioner, has suggested that it could be completed as early as 2030, a decade earlier than was predicted last year.

Source: CityAM