Mayor of London releases framework for development of more than 200,000 east London homes

A document issued last week (9-page / 5.5 MB PDF) shows how existing proposals for redevelopment could link with transport and infrastructure plans to create a 'city in the east' stretching from London Bridge eastwards to Ilford in Essex and northwards to the Upper Lee Valley.

The document maps 29 development sites, including those designated by Johnson as housing zones, and lists the numbers of homes and jobs proposed to be delivered at each location. The plans include 20,100 new homes and 15,000 jobs in the Upper Lee Valley, including those planned for the Northumberland Park site and the Meridian Water housing zone, supported by the proposed Crossrail 2 railway.

The Olympic legacy sites are expected to deliver 32,000 homes and 50,000 jobs under the framework, including 12,000 homes and 700,000 square metres of commercial space at Stratford and 9,000 homes and 300,000 sq m of commercial space at the Southern Olympic Fringe site.

The framework also estimates that 26,500 homes will be built at sites in the London Riverside development area with the support of an extension to the capital's overground rail network; 21,500 homes will be delivered at Bexley Riverside; and the further redevelopment of the Royal Docks will provide 15,000 homes.

Areas of land for industrial use are proposed to be relocated and consolidated further to the east and north under the framework, with larger industrial sites to be located away from homes and within easy access of the M25 motorway and central London. The document said the Greater London Authority was working with London's borough councils to produce development infrastructure funding studies identifying the strategic infrastructure required to deliver the proposed development.

The detailed plans for the development of each area covered by the framework will be outlined in their respective Opportunity Area Frameworks.

Planning expert Victoria Lindsay of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: "These plans will see the creation of a huge growth in east London over the next 20 years and capitalise on a number of developments that are already identified as coming forward, some of which we know well.  The framework document contains a series of maps which shows how the city is moving eastwards and will need to benefit from transport infrastructure improvements such as Crossrail, HS1 and those financed by TfL's Growth Fund which is designed to target transport improvements in areas where there is potential to unlock new homes and jobs. "