It has been four years since Merton Council and Transport for London appointed a company to put together a ‘development framework’ for the revamp of Morden town centre. 

But solid plans on what will happen next are yet to materialise.

The town at the end of the Northern Line is crying out for a revamp and a Strategic Development Framework’ report by Hawkins Brown was published in July 2019.

Plans to revive the town centre have been in the pipeline for more than 10 years and local councillor Nick Draper told the Local Democracy Reporting Service everything started to slow down when the financial crisis hit in 2008.

The latest update from Merton Council and TfL this year assures they are “fully committed” to the regeneration but that a review is under way to look for different funding options to deliver the regeneration more quickly.

It reads: “Morden has been identified as one of the major growth and housing opportunity areas in south-west London, by the council, Transport for London (TfL) and the Mayor of London.

"The town centre represents a unique development opportunity because it is a suburban town centre at the beginning of one of the busiest Tube lines in London, surrounded by excellent green and open spaces.”

The most recent consultation took place in 2021 and in it locals said the best thing about living in Morden is its transport links.

A report said: “For Morden, perceptions also tended to be more negative. For these areas, the offer being very limited and too many betting shops, charity shops, hairdressers and barbers was a key criticism.

"Markets tended to be seen as a positive, but described as lacking in quality and variety with a lack of fresh produce particularly highlighted.”

The idea of revamping the town centre has been on the cards since 2006 and positive public consultation took place in 2008 but plans were put on hold when the financial crisis hit.

 Local councillor Nick Draper said: “Morden needs regenerating, it is not the most exciting of places at the moment.

"It should be an awful lot better, it is such an opportunity to provide a good deal of affordable housing and do it in an area where people want to live, want to shop and want to go out.

“It is not a bad place and I am proud to represent it, I can see the potential.

The difficulties that have beset the project over the years have been international things.

"It was going great guns up until 2008 when there was a world economic crisis and it’s been difficult ever since.”

In 2019, a council report said work could start in 2023 but with no solid plans in place this is looking more and more unlikely.

It was previously thought Morden town centre could benefit from the long-awaited Sutton Link tram extension.

After being on the cards for more than 20 years this was put on hold in 2020 by TfL amid financial pressures.

Between 2021 and 2023, Merton Council is investing £300,000 money earmarked for community use paid by developers to improve the town centre.

This includes creating green spaces in the town centre and a new community garden at Morden Baptist Church which opened at the end of 2021 and is open for anybody to use in the daytime.