A major new report from the London Assembly has claimed the capital could deliver crucial new transport infrastructure at almost half the current cost by adopting planning and financing methods used in other European cities.
The High Cost of London's Infrastructure
The report, titled 'Mind the Funding Gap', was published by the cross-party Budget and Performance Committee. It highlights a stark contrast between project delivery costs in London and those on the continent. For instance, it notes that the Jubilee line extension cost ten times more per mile than a comparable project for the Madrid metro.
This cost disparity has directly impacted London's ambitions. Key projects like the long-awaited Bakerloo Line extension and the proposed West London Orbital rail line have been put on hold, largely due to financial constraints. The committee warns that without reform, more vital schemes risk becoming stuck indefinitely in the planning stage.
Learning from European Success Stories
The investigation looked at how other major European capitals achieve lower costs. A prime example is Madrid, which between 1995 and 1999 built a 35-mile extension to its metro system for just £2.1 billion, tripling the network's length in only 12 years.
Experts told the committee that this "low-cost and speedy approach" was due to concentrated decision-making power at the city level, simplified and standardised station designs, and maintaining a steady pipeline of projects to build expertise. In contrast, London's process is fragmented.
Railway engineer Gareth Dennis explained that the UK's "wider economy is that much more fragmented than in Spain," leading to numerous interfaces that "require lawyers, require commercial managers, and that adds enormous amounts of human resource costs."
A Call for Urgent Reform and a Clear Pipeline
The committee's central recommendations call for immediate action. It urges Mayor Sadiq Khan and Transport for London (TfL) to restart development of Crossrail 2—a proposed new line linking Surrey and Hertfordshire via a central London tunnel—with a renewed focus on minimising delivery costs.
Furthermore, the report demands that City Hall presents a "clear pipeline" for transport developments up to 2040 and devises a new strategy for attracting private investment. Ben Hopkinson, Head of Housing and Infrastructure at the Centre for Policy Studies, testified that cost reductions of 20-50% are achievable.
"If we got closer to European average cost delivery, it would be about 50 per cent. We are more than double," Hopkinson stated.
Committee Chairman Neil Garratt concluded: "We heard evidence that shows London could deliver major infrastructure projects between 20 and 50 per cent cheaper if we adopted some of the planning and financing processes in neighbouring countries. We are urging the Mayor to implement our cross-party recommendations, which could help London deliver the transport network the city wants and needs."
The findings suggest that reforming prolonged consultations, bureaucratic environmental assessments, and reliance on multiple smaller contractors could revolutionise project delivery in the capital, unlocking the future transport network London requires.
