Regeneration plans for Ladywell could be thwarted and emergency accommodation lost as a result of the extension of the Bakerloo line.

One Lewisham councillor is concerned the area will become Transport for London’s “dumping ground”.

TfL has earmarked Wearside Depot as a launch site for tunnel boring machines which could see the services located at the site moved to the Ladywell Leisure Centre, delaying regeneration plans, council senior programme manager Gavin Plaskitt said.

Ladywell regeneration plans include upward of 200 homes and leisure and entertainment facilities, Mr Plaskitt said.

Tunnel boring would also see hundreds of thousands of lorries moving material out of the area in the next six to seven years.

Services at the Wearside Depot include refuse, street cleaning, vehicle fleet, animal welfare, servicing and fuelling and a salt store.

Current uses for the one-hectare Ladywell Leisure Centre include temporary accommodation for 24 families as part of the Place Ladywell scheme.

Mr Plaskitt said: “If they [TfL] continue in the vein the have been developing, which is that Ladywell will be the launch site by 2024/2025, we will have needed to vacate uses from that site to enable the construction to be undertaken.

“Delivering the Bakerloo line extension is also something deemed desirable and will improve capacity on rail network and will help the development of other centres in Lewisham including Catford. We are already having issues with services being overcrowded.”

Councillor Carl Handley was concerned residents would have a long wait for regeneration.

“[The council] probably won’t do anything there until 2028 – that’s a long time for the area to not be regenerated with housing and other shops and what have you, and then become a dumping ground for the Bakerloo line.

“It’s a long time to ask people who live in that area [to wait] and to see it lasting even longer, it’s too much to ask.”

Cllr Alan Hall said he thought the extension did not need to hinder development at Ladywell.

“It is a prime site and there is a housing struggle… [but] I think the Bakerloo line extension problem can be solved within that at the same time, I don’t think they are incompatible with bringing a scheme forward for development at all.”

The council would be considering where to move the Place Ladywell scheme in the summer.

Chris Porter, TfL transport planning manager, said: “The Wearside Depot was identified as a possible site for a ventilation shaft for the Bakerloo line extension as part of the 2017 public consultation.

"We continue to review the requirements for the Bakerloo line extension, including the worksite locations and the entry points for the tunnel boring machines.

"No decisions have yet been made and we will hold a further public consultation on any revised proposals where all stakeholders will have the opportunity to provide their feedback.”