London Mayor Boris Johnson has announced plans to increase the number of new homes to 42,000 a year.



The new target represents an increase of 10,000 new homes per year and is one of the mayor’s key pledges in the newly-revised strategic planning framework aka the London Plan.





As well as the new target, there will also be 3,900 specialist homes built for older people every year until 2025.



In addition, for the first time local authorities will be helped to protect local pubs from being lost where possible whilst raising the number of “Opportunity Areas” (where regeneration is targeted) from 33 to 38 over the next 25 years. The new Opportunity Areas include Bromley Town Centre, Canada Water and Harrow and Wealdstone, the Old Kent Road corridor.



It has also been confirmed that Johnson will become the chair of the board of the new Old Oak and Royal Development Corporation (OPDC) which is set to be established on 1st April.



The OPDC’s remit is to increase the pace of the regeneration efforts in the area, transforming it into a bustling new district in Greater London with around 25,000 new homes and capable of sustaining 50,000 jobs.



The core objective of the new London Plan is to plan for how the capital will deal with the unprecedented growth in populations that’s anticipated by 2036 by which time it’s envisaged Greater London will be the home to in excess of 10m people.



Johnson said: “As the capital continues to flourish over the next few years, we will need to create hundreds of thousands of new homes and jobs and the London Plan will be crucial in allowing us to sustain our position as the best big city in the world.”



“The London Plan is quite literally the capital’s planning Bible – driving development and setting out exactly what is and is not acceptable as we work to build a cleaner, greener, safer city that abounds opportunity, talent and economic activity.”

OBAS CEO Norman Tenray said "It's essential that politicians continue to demonstrate this kind of courage, confidence and leadership in steering the UK out of the housing crisis.

"This is also great news for the construction industry as London continues to be the leader of economic growth in our industry, this is trickling out throughout the UK in terms of demand for skilled construction workers and the demand for building products and construction supplies."