£260 million is to be invested to deliver 28,000 new homes across London.

London's first Housing Zones will unlock the redevelopment of 1897.42 hectares of brownfield land across the capital, the equivalent of 2,656 football pitches. The special status has been awarded to areas identified by London boroughs as key opportunity sites, to maximise development, fast track homes and deliver much needed infrastructure to boost development. The Housing Zone status will remain until 2025.

Part of the London Mayor's commitment to double housebuilding as London's population continues to boom, the first of the new Zones will create more than 56,000 construction jobs on 52 schemes across the capital. Creating first class new neighbourhoods, measures agreed within the Zones include: 5 station upgrades; 5 new schools; 4 new bridges, 2 new civic centres; a new park, a new '3G' football pitch, shops, restaurants, and libraries. They will also include more than 9,000 low cost homes, for some of the capital's most essential workers. The areas selected will also benefit from planning focus and the release of publicly owned land for development.

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The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: "As London's population continues to boom, already at its highest since records began and with more growth predicted, housing is a huge challenge. We need to double housebuilding and provide a million more homes by 2025. These innovative new Housing Zones, the first of their kind in the UK, will trigger regeneration and turbo boost the transformation of the capital's brownfield sites, creating tens of thousands of new homes for hard working Londoner in first class new neighbourhoods."

London's first 9 Housing Zones are :

• Abbey Wood and South Thamesmead

• Abbey Wood, Plumstead and Thamesmead

• Barking Town Centre

• Clapham Junction to Battersea Riverside

• Heart of Harrow

• Hounslow Town Centre

• New Bermondsey

• Southall

• Tottenham

(CD/MH)