I would like to receive the latest property news and guides, every Wednesday by email

register with your social account or click here to log in

You already have an account. Please log in

Demands increased today for a cross-river extension of the DLR as plans for 11,500 new homes in south-east London were revealed.

Housing association Peabody and developer Lendlease announced they had formed a partnership to deliver an £8 billion waterfront scheme in Thamesmead.

Peabody hopes that Thamesmead will “finally realise its potential as London’s new town” 50 years after the first homes were completed.

Southern Thamesmead is notorious for its brutalist estates and tower blocks, which are undergoing redevelopment or demolition under separate plans.

Take a tour: the new £1 billion city by the Thames







7 show all Take a tour: the new £1 billion city by the Thames











1/7 Where it is Thamesmead sits on the River Thames at London's far eastern fringe.

2/7 Thamesmead's riverside site

3/7 Post-war sprawl Thamesmead rose out of the Erith and Plumstead Marshes in the Sixties, the modernist vision of the Greater London Council.

4/7 Abbey Wood The Elizabeth line station is set to open in 2019 and will connect the area to Bond Street in 25 minutes and Canary Wharf in 11 minutes.

5/7 The Reach, west Thamesmead The Reach is the first development in one of London’s Housing Zones, which are designated for accelerated delivery of homes. It will provide 66 social rent and shared-ownership homes.

6/7 West Thamesmead Gateway Immediately east of Plumstead Overground station, 1,300 new homes are proposed for West Thamesmead Gateway.

7/7 Thamesmead Central Square Homes shops and amenities in Southmere Village are all part of Peabody's £1billion Thamesmead regeneration plan.

The call for a DLR extension from Gallions Reach comes a week after Greenwich council asked Mayor Sadiq Khan to pause plans for the £1 billion Silvertown road tunnel and focus instead on the DLR.

Thamesmead lost out to Stratford in the late Nineties as the destination for the Jubilee line extension and it suffers from poor transport links, with the nearest station at Abbey Wood several miles away.

Transport for London is “continuing to build the case” for a DLR extension to Thamesmead but it is unfunded. Mr Khan said earlier this year that it could be built within a decade if there was public support.

Today’s plans include 1.5 miles of riverfront as part of a 250-acre site. No planning application has been submitted but a minimum of 11,500 homes are promised, including a “significant” number of affordable homes.

It is the single largest development in Peabody’s 150-year history.

Chief executive Brendan Sarsfield said: “Thamesmead waterfront represents a historic opportunity to transform an isolated and under-utilised riverside location in London.”

Neil Martin, chief executive of Lendlease, Europe, said: “The breadth of opportunity and economic potential that this scheme offers Thamesmead and London is enormous.”

The plans are expected to take 30 years to complete, with the aim of revitalising Thamesmead town centre with new businesses and cultural and leisure space.

It is currently home to 45,000 people spread across nine neighbourhoods. Its landscape includes 75 hectares of green space, 4.5 miles of canals and five lakes.

Mr Martin added: “Improving transport links is a vital part of the long-term regeneration of the area, as it will bring those new homes within reach of the heart of London.”