London mayor Boris Johnson announced that the new zones will be located in the boroughs of Brent, Westminster and Sutton. They should deliver nearly 6,600 new homes and create 13,000 construction jobs, according to the proposals.
There are to be 20 housing zones located in London. Johnson has already announced 15 housing zones this year. The latest announcement brings the total number to 18, with the two remaining zones to be confirmed before the end of the year.
The mayor set an initial target of providing 50,000 new homes in the capital through the housing zone scheme. The number of planned new homes proposed within the 18 housing zones designated to-date stands at 50,965; nearly one third of which will be allocated to affordable to buy or rent homes.
According to the mayor's statement, £44 million will be invested in the three new housing zones.
The Edgware Road housing zone is located in the borough of Westminster and will see the regeneration of two existing estates. The redevelopment will deliver 1,113 new homes, 537 of which will be allocated as affordable units. This housing zone will benefit from the Crossrail interchange at Paddington Station.
Alperton housing zone in Brent is positioned north of the Grand Union canal and borders the Old Oak Park Royal site. This zone benefits from Alperton and Stonebridge Park underground stations and improvements will be made to the walkway connecting the two stations and the canalside. The Greater London Authority (GLA) has allocated £17.9m of funding to this housing zone which is proposed to help deliver 3,213 new homes, of which 880 will be affordable.
Sutton Council had allocated both Hackbridge housing zone and Sutton town centre as priority areas for housing growth. This new announcement will now accelerate the delivery of new homes in the area. According to the mayor's statement, the new homes will include "town centre living for single people and couples, to family housing with a provision for all types of tenures". A further £3.5m is proposed for investment in decentralising the energy network in Hackbridge which could benefit 19,000 homes.
“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," said Johnson. "This scheme has proven extremely popular with boroughs, who have clearly been looking for just that extra bit of assistance in revving up their house building 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."
Planning expert Victoria Lindsay of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: "This announcement brings the total number of housing zones to 18, leaving just two zones to be announced by the end of the year if the GLA is to meet its target of 20 housing zones by the end of 2015".
"London boroughs submitted bids last year, putting forward areas to be designated as housing zones and receive a share of £400 million in loans from the GLA and central government towards the cleaning up of brownfield sites and the delivery of infrastructure to allow more rapid development," said Lindsay. "Each successful borough will now be held to account in delivering the agreed, bespoke outputs for their designated housing zone via a suite of funding agreements with the GLA."
"The housing zone programme is all about acceleration of housing delivery", added Marcus Bate, another planning expert at Pinsent Masons. "The GLA wants to see delivery of tangible housing outputs Delays in designating Housing Zones and putting in place the required funding agreements put that overarching objective at risk. This news is a step in the right direction, but the momentum must be kept up."