The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson has today announced the first nine Housing Zones across London.
£260m of funding will help unlock the development of 1,900 hectares of land, with the aim of delivering 28,000 new homes, the funding will help in delivering much needed infrastructure to boost development.
London Boroughs were invited last year to submit bids to the GLA for these funding packages in an attempt to bring forward development on difficult sites, or where the market has not yet committed to large-scale regeneration. As such the funding is to be welcomed as it will assist in accelerating the delivery of new homes across the capital.
Housing Zones in Numbers: It is anticipated that the new Zones will create more than 56,000 construction jobs on 52 schemes across the capital. Creating first class new neighbourhoods, measures agreed within the Zones include: 5 station upgrades; 5 new schools; 4 new bridges, 2 new civic centres; a new park, a new '3G' football pitch, shops, restaurants, and libraries. They will also include more than 9,000 low cost homes, for some of the capital's most essential workers. The identified areas will maintain Housing Zone status until 2025.
The first nine zones are:
- Abbey Wood and South Thamesmead – creation of a new town centre adjacent to the new Crossrail station
- Abbey Wood, Plumstead and Thamesmead – LB Greenwich and Peabody Trust to deliver 1,500 new homes and 3,000 jobs
- Barking Town Centre – a central part of realising Barking’s full cultural and economic potential, 2,000 new homes and 4,000 new jobs
- Clapham Junction to Battersea Riverside – improvements to Clapham Junction transport hub and linkages between town centres, delivering 5,000 new homes
- Heart of Harrow – 5,000 new homes incl. PRS across both Harrow and Wealdstone town centres
- Hounslow Town Centre – at 466 hectares the largest by area, anticipated to deliver 3,500 new homes and 7,000 new jobs
- New Bermondsey – a new London Overground Station to deliver a new thriving neighbourhood
- Southall – again, benefitting from planned investment in Crossrail this Zone would deliver 4,345 homes and 1,785 jobs; and
- Tottenham – ambitious plans for 10,000 new homes and 5,000 new jobs by 2025
It is anticipated that a further 11 Housing Zones will be announced in March.
The announcement of this funding will be welcomed in the selected areas, this together with the announcement of further Zones next month and the other initiatives including the London Housing Bank, should help accelerate the delivery of new housing across London. Whether it achieves the 42,000 per annum required in the current London Plan, or an increased figure which is likely to be required to be met in a new version of the London Plan which should emerge later this year, remains to be seen.