Housing Strategy aims to increase new homes in London

New plans to boost housebuilding in the capital, as set out by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson's updated Housing Strategy, will see up to 10 ‘housing zones' created along with three garden suburbs.

The document, which was published last Friday, sets out a long-term ambition to significantly boost the supply of new homes being developed in London each year to 42,000 over the next 20 years, in a bid to help tackle the growing housing crisis caused largely by a lack of new properties being developed in relation to growing demand from buyers and renters.

The new target is around double the amount which has been achieved over the last two decades and would include at least 17,000 affordable homes and 5,000 for purpose-built long-term market rent.

The new housing zones, the Mayor said, would aim to "maximise the capacity of key sites to rapidly deliver new homes".

The Mayor said he would explore opportunities for and promote at least three more garden suburbs including at Barking Riverside, where building work is already underway, and Beam Park in Dagenham and at Thamesmead.

"My Housing Strategy sets out measures to tackle the colossal pressure on London's property market and address the chronic 30 year failure to build enough homes in our city," said Mayor Johnson.

He continued: "The good news is we have capacity for 42,000 more homes a year in London alone, plus a multitude of prime opportunity areas and programmes to trigger development. For me there is no single more important issue now than boosting supply, increasing investment in affordable housing and helping hard working Londoners find homes.

"I can't do this alone, and will be working closely with government, developers and boroughs to increase supply, stimulate building and tackle demand."