West London Orbital Named in Budget as a New Levy Target

The government will pass a law letting the Mayor of London set up a new business rates levy, and the Budget names the West London Orbital as one of the lines it could help pay for. The Orbital is the proposed Overground line that would start at Hendon.

Nothing has been funded to build yet.

What the Budget says

The Budget 2026 document, published on 28 October, lists the measures for London. One of them is:

“Legislating to enable the Mayor of London to establish a successor to the Elizabeth Line Business Rates Supplement (BRS), which is scheduled to end by 2041. The successor BRS will have ballot requirements no more restrictive than those enacted in 2009, and, alongside the wider fiscal devolution package, will help the GLA to finance future transport infrastructure projects such as West London Orbital and the Bakerloo Line Extension.”

The same section says the government will explore letting Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levy money support borrowing for “strategic infrastructure projects”. That is the developer charge City Hall already uses for big transport schemes.

How the current levy works

The existing levy is the Crossrail business rate supplement. City Hall’s page on the supplement sets out how it works in 2026-27:

• it is 2p in the pound on top of normal business rates
• it applies only to premises with a rateable value above £92,000, up from £75,000
• fewer than 14% of London’s business and other non-domestic premises are expected to pay it
• it is due to end no later than March 2041

City Hall says it has put around £7.0 billion into the Elizabeth line from the supplement and the Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levy combined.

The Budget does not say how big a successor levy would be, when it would start, or how much of it would go to the Orbital.

What the Mayor said

Sadiq Khan welcomed the Budget on 28 October. He said:

“By giving London the ability to keep more of the money we raise, we can invest billions of pounds more in our future, helping to finally unlock transformational infrastructure projects such as the West London Orbital, the Bakerloo Line Extension and the Euston knowledge quarter project, supporting tens of thousands of new homes, jobs and economic growth.”

Where the line stands

TfL is consulting on the route now. We set out the plans in our report on the consultation. In short:

• trains would run from Hendon via Brent Cross West to Hounslow, mostly on the freight-only Dudding Hill line
• Hendon and Brent Cross West would each get two new platforms and six trains an hour
• TfL puts the cost at £800 million to £900 million, in 2023 prices
• it aims for a decision on whether to go ahead by the end of 2027, and passenger trains from around 2035

TfL’s figures come from its consultation pages.

What it means for you

• Nothing changes on the ground yet. The Budget points to a way of paying for the line. It is not a decision to build it, and the new levy still needs legislation.
• If you run a larger business, the current supplement only hits premises with a rateable value above £92,000. The Budget does not say whether a successor would use the same threshold.
• You can still have your say on the route. The consultation closes on 18 November. TfL’s drop-in sessions in Barnet this week are:

Brent Cross West is also where the flyover contraflow starts on Tuesday. The latest closures are on our Barnet roadworks page.