Plans for two new Olympic Park neighbourhoods are accelerated

The announcement means that the LLDC will now require development partners to provide more homes for rent in the new neighbourhoods. The thinking behind this plan is that homes for rent can be made available more quickly than homes for sale as the risk of competing against homes for sale in the wider area is lost.

The scheme remains unchanged for the first neighbourhood on the Park, Chobham Manor, which will still hold 850 homes and is set to receive its first residents by early 2015. The LLDC will now speed up the creation of the East Wick and Sweetwater neighbourhoods to include 1600 homes completed and fully occupied by 2023 rather than 2029 as originally planned. The plan is that homes in East Wick will be ready first with residents moving in from 2016.

East Wick will be in the north-west of the Park, next to Hackney Wick, and will contain a primary school and community centre. The East Wick neighbourhood will provide townhouses, maisonettes, mews, studios and flats. Sweetwater will be in the south-west of the Park, near Old Ford and is set to create studios, flats and family homes with private gardens and communal green space alongside the Lea Navigation canal.

The LLDC will work with host boroughs to ensure that local services and facilities support the new neighbourhoods as families move in.

London Mayor Boris Johnson said: “There’s a huge need for more homes in London and this pressure will only increase as the city grows. Because of the massive interest in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, we have found a way to accelerate the delivery of two neighbourhoods including 1600 homes without compromising quality. It’s a move that will help people get into the homes they want more quickly".