The London Assembly Planning and Regeneration Committee has called for plans for a new 15,000-home development in South East London to be approved to help meet housebuilding targets.
The chair of the Committee, James Small-Edwards, described the plans for the regeneration of the brownfield site at Thamesmead, which has been shortlisted as one of the government’s 12 new towns, as a “complete no-brainer”.
Peabody has drawn up the plans for the development of the 100-hectare site, which would be named Thamesmead Waterfront. The scheme is yet to receive formal government approval, but hopes were raised last year with the chancellor supporting the extension of the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) to the area.
James Small-Edwards, the Labour Assembly Member, told the BBC’s Local Democracy Reporter Service: “You’ve got Peabody ready to go, you’ve got the DLR extension now approved by the government – it’s a really exciting site, I think it’d be great for London.”
“It’s really important to bring down the number of people on housing waiting lists as well – I hope that we’ll get a stamp of approval in the spring.”
The Capital is currently required to deliver 88,000 homes a year to meet housing needs, although research from Molior found that there were just 5,547 starts on new private sector homes in 2025.
Peabody says it is ready to start work on-site as soon as approval is granted.
Small-Edwards said that the extension of the DLR showed the importance of transport infrastructure in delivering housing in London, and backed the proposal to extend the Bakerloo Line to have the same impact.
Small-Edwards said: “That extension has been transformative and allowed them to bring forward a lot of homes, which are going to be really beneficial for Londoners.”
