Mayor of London’s Housing Zone scheme hits key target

Target of 50,000 homes to be built reached and exceeded.

A key target has been hit as part of the Mayor of London’s Housing Zone scheme that provides new homes.

A landmark scheme, it has reached the target of providing 50,000 new homes and its success means that the boroughs of Sutton, Brent and Westminster are also set to benefit from this drive.

It adds to what has already been achieved by Boris Johnson, who has set up a London Land Commission to free up land for new housing, ensuring the release of 99% held in the Mayor’s own portfolio and establishing London Housing Bank in order to give finance so that the build-out of large sites can be accelerated.

Housing Zones – 18 of 20 have been announced – are an effort to streamline the approval process and speed up development in target areas, while unlocking brownfield sites in the process.

They are a collaborative effort between the government, local boroughs and the Greater London Authority.

With almost all the promised Housing Zones now announced, it has brought the total of homes to be built up to almost 51,000, with as many as one third being affordable to buy or rent.

Boris Johnson shared his delight at the success of this “innovative scheme.”

He said: “We have worked very hard to reach our goal of 50,000 homes, and we’ve done it with two more Housing Zones to go.

“This scheme has proven extremely popular with boroughs, who have clearly been looking for just that extra bit of assistance in revving up their housebuilding to answer clear demand from Londoners.

“I could not be more pleased at the progress of this innovative scheme and the real outcomes it has delivered for our city.”

Further investment in three new housing zones will see areas of London that differ greatly benefit from almost 6,600 new homes, more than 13,000 construction jobs and better transport links.

This £44M investment will transform these areas.

These 50,000 new homes will be built because of these zones, which will in turn greatly help to achieve the Mayor’s plan of constructing almost 500,000 homes in the next ten years.

The identity of the remaining two zones will be announced later this summer.

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