Chancellor George Osborne has confirmed £1bn is to be spent extending the Northern Line to Battersea.

The huge boost to the borough was announced as part of the Autumn Report earlier today, and will see the creation of two new stations at Nine Elms and at the Battersea Power Station site.

Funding will be loaned by the government to the Greater London Authority, as part of a massive redevelopment of the area expected to create 16,000 new homes and 25,000 new jobs.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson welcomed the announcement.

He said: “I am delighted that after months of intensive discussions and hard work we have got the go ahead from Government on financing an extension to the Northern Line, which is hugely significant as Nine Elms is one of the areas with the greatest prospect for new development in the whole of the capital.

"It will be an incredible confidence boost for developers preparing to invest there and it will also be a considerable boost for local people who will benefit from the new Tube link.”

To repay the loan the Government will work with the Mayor’s Office and the London boroughs of Lambeth and Wandsworth to create a zone in which the expected uplift in business rates will recoup the debt.

Work could begin on the extension by 2015 and services could be in operation by 2020.