Note: This informal discussion has been edited with AI into a fully referenced article here: https://claverton-energy.com/how-the-croydon-tramlink-tramway-was-built-and-the-beneficial-effect-it-had-particularly-on-sink-estates-now-much-improved.html
31 July 2025, 16:42
From: Dave Andrews
Hello CG, I have heard anecdotally that one of the reasons for building the Croydon tram was that there was a notorious deprived and isolated estate, South Addington. And that since it has been built it has had a transformative effect. I understand that you had some involvement with it. If you are able to confirm this with a few lines I would be most grateful as it will be very useful campaigning material.
Best Wishes,
David Andrews
1 August 2025, 12:14
From: David Cockle
Afternoon Dave,
Here is information on Croydon Tramlink & the New Addington estate on 8th July when we were drafting the response to Simon Cooke’s contentious Sunday Telegraph WYMTS article.
Do you require me to carry out further research on the New Addington estate and the reason why BD (BD = A senior official involved) , London Transport & Croydon Council were keen to build the route to New Addington?
David Cockle
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- Wikipedia reference on New Addington
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Addington
- My London Nov 2019
https://www.mylondon.news/news/south-london-news/new-addington-estate-croydon-underrated-15527910
1 August 2025, 20:04
From: Mike Ballinger
One of the effects of tramways/light rail that the US have found is that they can gentrify an area. This isn’t necessarily positive. When a tramway is put in, provided it’s done well, it can lead to an above average increase in value. This means that the poorer people who lived in the area, as they gradually move out, are replaced by higher income people, often with cars, who don’t necessarily use the transit system. Meanwhile the not so well off are moved to lower income areas with less decent transit.
Southern California is a breeding ground for this and there were protests when the OC streetcar scheme was started.
If you are trying to prove that a tramway improves some people’s social responsibility Dave A forget it, They just move/are moved.
MikeB
1 August 2025, 23:30
From: Dave Andrews
Mike, I have been aware of this issue of course and my previous research into the matter ties in with what this piece says: … And of course the whole of British economic policy is geared toward gentrification by the near fact that 80% of bank lending goes into property which is essentially speculation.
2 August 2025, 08:00
From: David Walmsley
Dave A,
You should also include Walmsley and Perrett (1992) “The effects of rapid transit on public transport and urban development” in your references. Conclusion: rapid transit (trams and metros) does contribute to urban development, but not on its own — it needs the right planning policies to make it happen (10).
2 August 2025, 08:06
From: Dave Andrews
Thank you David W, yes I clearly remember you telling me this about ten years ago — that it’s no use increasing rapid transit unless you also carry out other planning measures, such as restricting the otherwise increase in car traffic.
2 August 2025, 10:47
From: CG
Dave A,
You could of course ask BD (BD = A senior official involved) about some of this — I’m sure he would be more than happy to furnish you with chapter and verse, of which he is undoubtedly the foremost expert.
However, as being closely involved with the planning and construction of the line (along with Dave Cockle amongst many others) I do have some overall background that might be helpful.
The building of the New Addington Public Housing Estate (about 50,000 residents if my memory serves me correctly) left it as the largest (new?) town in Europe at the time without rail connection or so it was said (6).
As early as the 1960s ideas were being floated as to how to deal with this as the peak hour bus journey from NA to Croydon and other areas were very long and unreliable. This led to NA becoming ‘cut off’ and suffering from increasing lack of opportunity and social problems associated with deprivation. At one point micro trams might have been mentioned as some sort of PRT type system. BRT might also have been discussed (7).
After the publication by LT Planning of Light Rail for London in 1987 the shortlist of schemes was shaken down to what we now recognise as the Tramlink network. I first met BD (BD = A senior official involved) as he and the late and lamented Gradimir Stafanovic were crouched over some proposed alignment drawings of the New Addington terminus in 1993 I think. I was working at the University of Westminster at the time in the Transport Studies Group.
After the system was constructed and opened in 2000 (a very happy memory for me), the transport authority — by then TfL — did undertake a Tramlink Impact Study in 2002, although sadly and as usual this was not followed up with further studies later, as they should be but never are (4). This study is I believe a public document and I attach the Summary herewith.
Some of the key conclusions relating to NA were from memory:
That there had been a significant uplift in employment opportunity and uptake from residents near the Tramlink route, who could now easily access the large businesses on the A23/Purley Way for the first time;
There had been a notable decline in the number of seriously deprived families in the relevant catchment areas in New Addington. (The line is at one side of NA but does not actually penetrate the estate — a situation that TfL have mulled over with Croydon Council at various times);
In addition, the line to Wimbledon provided excellent access to the very rough Phipps Bridge public housing estate, which will certainly have provided accessibility opportunities for residents of that very blighted area (5).
Of course all of this is also linked to the relative economic fortunes of Croydon and its environs, and in common with much of the UK, the last 30 years has seen a rather mixed and undulating picture.
What is not of doubt however is that Tramlink did indeed provide a significant accessibility boost to employment opportunities for a large and rather deprived area and this positively affected the community (5).
Similar considerations come central to many new Light Rail schemes in the UK, and of course in the Northern ex-industrial cities this is extremely central to many strategic sections of their business cases. London of course has had integrated bus network planning (to a significant extent) where until recently this vital aspect has not been possible outside London (8).
Kind regards,
CG
2 August 2025, 10:58
From: CG
Dave, and of course I forgot the potentially more enlightening paper by John Sirault, then of Colin Buchanan (9), about the economic and regeneration impacts of Tramlink, which I also attach and which he summarized as:
Radically improved orbital access across South London;
Markedly raised the profile of Croydon but not other centres served by the system;
Assisted in attracting high profile inward investors to Croydon;
Facilitated some commercial development along the route;
Attracted young professionals to the area leading to a slight increase in property prices;
Made recruitment marginally easier and improved productivity through better punctuality;
Improved the job prospects of the unemployed residents of New Addington;
Improved the accessibility of the mobility impaired and socially excluded especially in New Addington and to a lesser extent at Phipp’s Bridge;
Maintained footfall in central Croydon during major retail redevelopment;
Enabled the upgrading of a number of retail outlets within Croydon; and
Benefited the residents of the areas it served broadly in line with their age and gender, that is, the benefits have not been biased towards any particular group (4)(5)(9).
Kind regards,
CG
2 August 2025, 11:09
From: Dave Andrews
Many thanks for your comprehensive and detailed reply CG.
Perhaps you could consider giving an online talk or in person to assist our campaign down in Bristol and Bath to install a tram system?
Best wishes,
David Andrews
2 August 2025, 11:24
From: David Walmsley
One point that CG touches on is the time taken for results to show. Changes in land use, urban development or people’s behaviour take time to develop. You don’t see much after 2 or 3 years, but go back 10 or 15 years later and the changes are dramatic. Look at London Docklands or Salford Quays (3).
2 August 2025, 12:46
From: CG
Indeed so. Ideally you need to do time series studies starting a good while before the system is in construction to many decades after it opens while keeping a close eye on all of the other economic indicators. Needless to say this is very rarely done as far too expensive (2).
Kind regards,
CG
2 August 2025, 13:01
From: CG
It may be that they are planning to do this with Crossrail/The Elizabeth Line because so much of the Business Case was predicated on these wider economic indicators (1).
Kind regards,
CG
References
- Transport for London (2011). Crossrail Property Impact Study – Impacts on Office and Retail Markets. Link
- Transport for London (2022). Crossrail Evaluation: Case Study Report – Wider Economic Impacts. Link
- Urban Transport Group (2018). What Light Rail Can Do for Cities. Link
- Transport for London (2002). Tramlink Impact Study Summary Report. Link
- Knowles, R.D. (2004). Transport impacts of the Croydon Tramlink. Journal of Transport Geography, 12(4), 275–287. DOI
- Power, A. (1997). Estates on the Edge: The Social Consequences of Mass Housing in Northern Europe. Palgrave Macmillan.
- House of Commons Transport Committee (2005). Integrated Transport: Written Evidence on Croydon Tramlink. Link
- Gleave, S.D. / Urban Transport Group (2005). What Light Rail Can Do for Cities. Link
- Siraut, J. (2004). Economic and regeneration impacts of Croydon Tramlink. In: Urban Transport X, WIT Press, pp. 865–874. Link
- Walmsley, D.A. & Perrett, K.E. (1992). The Effects of Rapid Transit on Public Transport and Urban Development. TRL Research Report 278.