New Zone 3 homes for first-time buyers in east London: first major housing development around Lea Bridge station given the green light

Now that Lea Bridge has a railway station again, this run-down east London outpost is to get its first major housing development.

Hill, the award-winning house builder responsible for reinvigorating acres of warehouses around Cambridge station, has been granted permission for a scheme of more than 300 new homes in nine blocks in Lea Bridge Road.

About 60 of the homes will be affordable, aimed at low- and middle-income buyers and renters currently priced out of the private sector.

The announcement comes a month after the long-awaited reopening of Lea Bridge station, which was closed in the mid-Eighties as part of a cost-cutting exercise.

By 2031 it is forecast that more than 350,000 passengers a year will use the Zone 3 train station. It will take about five minutes to reach either Stratford or Tottenham Hale and connect to London Underground.

Construction of the apartments starts later this year, and expressions of interest are already being taken ahead of a sales launch in 2018.

Right now the area has streets of Victorian houses which, by London standards, are highly affordable, with three- to four-bedroom homes selling for between £500,000 and £600,000. Two-bedroom flats in period homes sell for around £325,000 to £350,000, and one-bedroom flats are available for under £250,000.

Prices in the area are already growing strongly, according to Rightmove, which reports an increase from an average of just under £305,000 in February last year to almost £413,000 at the start of this year, and over 30 per cent in less than two years.

The link between improved transport connections and house price rises is well documented, and the area is also in line for other major infrastructure improvements.

Waltham Forest council is investing £30 million in a programme to improve road safety across the borough, replacing the hated Whipps Cross roundabout with a T-junction, adding segregated cycle lanes and improving pedestrian crossings and street lighting.

Hill’s development will include a gym and a few shops. Shabby Lea Bridge currently has little to offer — you need to travel to Stratford for a good choice of shops, bars, and restaurants.