With the need for housing particularly acute in and around London, ministers have outlined plans to give the Mayor greater powers to deliver new homes.

Of the £400 million government funding available, £200 million will be allocated to and matched by the Greater London Assembly and be put towards delivering 20 new housing zones in the Capital.

The Mayor, Boris Johnson, will also be offered powers to drive forward local development orders in those areas to get work speeded up. Where London boroughs are slow to get their local plans in place, the Mayor will also have new powers to intervene. He will be able to call in developments of 100 or more homes where there are delays.

Ministers also want to ensure that, as well as making the best use of brownfield land, existing housing estates in need of large scale regeneration also get the attention they deserve.

Such a move has the potential to deliver additional new homes on existing land. For example, London’s inner boroughs will contain 1.7 million fewer people than they did in 1911 despite record numbers of people expected to be living in the city by 2021.

‘This estate regeneration fund will allow us to provide wonderful new homes for existing residents and radically improve the quality of housing in many neglected communities,’ said Johnson.

‘We want to create welcoming neighbourhoods in which people aspire to live all across the capital. Many of our estates date back to the 1960s and it is high time that they received a new lease of life and I urge developers to apply for the funding and get building,’ he added.

It is expected 50,000 new homes across 20 new housing zones will be created in London with local authorities identifying and packaging together brownfield land which could be used for development into a housing zone and removing all unnecessary planning restrictions. They will be expected to partner with a developer to build new homes and the absence of planning constraints will significantly accelerate construction.

The Mayor launched the scheme at Meridian Water, an 85 hectare former industrial site in Enfield that has the potential for 5,000 new homes, new schools, a library and commercial space, linking to the nearby Lea Valley regional park.

‘Housing is the biggest challenge facing London’s economic development and these new £400 million housing zones will turbo boost housing supply across the capital. This major regeneration will transform communities and provide up to 50,000 much needed homes. They will support 250,000 Londoners into low cost home ownership over the next decade,’ explained Johnson.

The Mayor’s Office has worked with a number of London boroughs to test the concept. These include: Meridian Water in Enfield, Tottenham Hale in Haringey, Southall in Ealing, South Poplar in Tower Hamlets, and Winstanley and York Road in Wandsworth.

The funding for housing zones will be allocated by competition. The Mayor has published his prospectus inviting bids from local authorities in London.