Surrey Canal: the new neighbourhood forming in north Deptford - part 2
Although work on the new station hasn't started, development in the area is underway and will total around 5,000 homes. Tomilyn Rupert checks out the SELCHP incinerator, connections to cycle routes and asks - what are the prospects for new businesses?
Within a few hundred metres to the east of the proposed Surrey Canal station, several new developments have taken shape around Folkestone Gardens, outside the Surrey Canal Triangle area.
Neptune Wharf on Grinstead road is complete, providing 199 homes and on Trundley’s Street, 393 rooms for purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) and 58 affordable homes, set above flexible industrial units, are under construction.
There is planning approval at the former Apollo Business Centre for 484 student bedrooms alongside 42 affordable homes and 19,000 square feet of creative workspace.
On the Southwark side, outside Lewisham’s designated Surrey Canal Triangle, ‘Bermondsey Heights’ on Ilderton Road was completed in 2025. The development provides 253 new homes and advertises them as five minutes walk from the potential station.
Add in the Deptford Foundry development, and it brings the total of homes in the area that are planned, under construction, or recently completed to just over 5,000 before taking into account projects on nearby Old Kent Road.
The nearby incinerator: SELCHP
The defining landmark of the area’s skyline is the 100 metre high tower of the South East London Combined Heat and Power (SELCHP), the UK’s 8th largest incinerator. Homes in phase 1 of the Renewal Masterplan, at the current Orion business centre, will be separated only by train tracks from the incinerator.
The plant was built in 1987, in an area which ranks in the top 5% most deprived areas in the UK. There are growing concerns about pollution from the incinerator itself and from the movement of trucks bringing black bag waste to the site from other London boroughs and districts outside London.
Connections for cyclists and potential Bakerloo line extension
Beyond the potential station, the area is on Cycleway 10 which goes northwest all the way to Euston, or east to Greenwich. Cyclists have raised concerns that the cycle path is unsafe at night, where it goes behind Millwall Stadium.
The Neptune Wharf development has opened one of the archways under the rail line to the north of Folkestone Gardens, but a slight curb makes this more difficult for cyclists to use, with the alternative being the narrow Grinstead Road.
The Section 106 agreement with developer Renewal includes £300,000 towards pedestrian and cycle routes, including enhancement of the crossing, lighting and CCTV, and unspecified design measures to avoid conflict between pedestrians and cyclists.
Marketing material from Renewal in 2020 calls its vast development "New Bermondsey", and highlights the potential of an extension of the Bakerloo Line with a new Old Kent Road tube station.
Neighbourhood offer
Though many of the developments have commercial space in the planning documents, it’s no guarantee of occupancy or a thriving business community. At nearby Neptune Wharf, most of the commercial space still sits empty.
Sylva, a café and restaurant in Folkestone Gardens opened in May 2024, taking over the space formerly occupied by Cafe Hoenle. In 2025, Sylva began offering an evening menu on Thursdays.
Twin Oaks Primary school is a short walk from the proposed station.
However, the nearest supermarkets are the Sainsbury’s at New Cross Gate, or Tesco’s next to Surrey Quays station. Morrisons have submitted a planning application to open in Neptune Wharf.
Avalon Café offers a café, music, and events space on Surrey Canal road.
A walk along the cycle path shows some warehouse vacancies, indicating this stretch might see even more changes in the near future.
Tomilyn Hannah Rupert
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