Those who opposed the canal ensured that clauses restricting use of water from the Wandle were inserted. Work began on the canal, but at the same time, the London dock system was in its early stages of development, and there were proposals by John Hall in 1802 to construct a dock at Rotherhithe, close to the lock by which the canal gained access to the Thames. The canal company agreed to construct it in 1803, and although it was poorly funded, the basin, together with a ship lock, was completed and opened on 13 March 1807. The Croydon Canal, which had also been authorised in 1801, proposed to join the Surrey Canal near Deptford, to save having to construct a parallel route to the Thames. The prospect of rent from this arrangement helped the company to open the first of the canal, as far as the Old Kent Road, in 1807, but their resolve to complete the canal had been lost, as the docks seemed a more lucrative prospect. However, a second Act of Parliament, obtained in 1807, authorised them to raise another £60,000, which was used to extend the canal to Memel Wharf and a basin at Camberwell. This work was completed in 1810. So far, the route had been level, but to go any further would have needed locks or inclined planes, and the expected costs of their construction did not inspire the company to proceed with them. A short branch of about was constructed in 1826, running from Glengall Wharf to Peckham Basin. Two further acts of parliament were obtained in 1808 and 1811 to allow new funds to be committed to the project. In 1812, the canal was closed for two months while the company finished work on a new dock and connecting lock, which opened in November. Although no extensions to the canal other than the Peckham Branch were made, there was intermittent interest in such schemes. Some land was bought along the route of an extension from Camberwell to Kennington, which was considered in 1817, but was rejected because construction would require a deep cutting, restricting the amount of land available for wharves. The Peckham Branch, when it opened in May 1826, ended at a basin which was , because of the demand for wharf space. When the London and Croydon Railway bill was passing through Parliament in 1835, which would result in the closure of the Croydon Canal, the Grand Surrey company managed to insert clauses into the bill to protect their canal against a low-level railway crossing, but failed to include a compensation clause for loss of trade from the Croydon Canal.