The Mayor of London Boris Johnson last week announced four more housing zones across the capital, boosting the number of new properties available to local residents.
The new zones in the boroughs of Havering, Enfield, Redbridge and Tower Hamlets will together deliver over 12,000 new homes, nearly 3,500 of which will be affordable housing. This will bring the number of housing zones announced to 15 with a total of 45,109 homes created, 14,055 of them affordable.
The Mayor of London has contributed a total of £162 million in funding to the new Housing Zones, which are a collaborative effort between the Greater London Authority, the government and local boroughs to streamline approval processes and fast-track development in areas where it may not otherwise happen.
Included in the new Housing Zones will be two brand new rail stations, a large new park, new primary schools, and new retail and entertainment precincts. They will revitalise currently disused brownfield sites and turn them into neighbourhoods where Londoners will work, live and visit.
Mayor Johnson commented:
“Housing zones will provide the swift delivery of new homes for Londoners that is so desperately needed and create entirely new, highly-connected urban districts for generations to come. By freeing up empty brownfield sites from lengthy approval processes and providing a funding boost, we can ensure new housing capacity is created in areas where it might never otherwise have happened. I am very pleased that the announcement of four more housing zones today brings us within touching distance of our aim to create 50,000 new homes through this innovative scheme.”