Some 11,000 new homes are to be built in one of the UK’s largest regeneration projects to create a ‘new town’ in Barking on the banks of the River Thames in London.

It will be London’s first NHS healthy living new town with healthy ideas used in the design of the development which comes as part of a landmark investment agreed by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and housing association and developer L&Q.

A partnership has been formed with Barking Riverside Limited to deliver the masterplan for the scheme which will also include a new over ground station connecting to central London in just 22 minutes, seven schools, retail, healthcare and leisure spaces, and a cycling hub.

Until the 1990s, the area had three power stations and a large landfill site. It has also been announced that half of the 10,800 new homes will be affordable and the new station will open in 2021.

‘This is an incredibly exciting project for Barking and Dagenham, but also for the whole of London. As we tackle the biggest housing crisis of a generation, major developments like Barking Riverside will deliver thousands of the genuinely affordable new homes Londoners desperately need,’ said Khan.

‘As well as housing, our investment will create the new transport, education and health services needed to turn this into a thriving new community. London will be home to 10 million people in the next decade. I’m working to plan for that growth and to provide genuinely affordable homes for Londoners. That will mean increasing density, building on small sites, and using my powers to deliver more affordable homes,’ he added.

According to Lucinda Turner, director of spatial planning at Transport for London, it will be a vibrant new area of east London. ‘Our improved transport connections will be vital for those who live, work and visit there. It’s important that we promote good growth and this funding will help support more sustainable travel with the delivery of our planned London Overground connection, and improved bus, walking and cycling routes for people of all ages through the area,’ she explained.

Source: Property Wire