An investment of £500 million for transport, parkland and community facilities has been agreed to the Barking Riverside development, which will see 11,000 new homes built.

The investment has been agreed by mayor of London Sadiq Khan and housing association and developers L&Q.

A new Transport for London (TfL) Overground station, shops, offices and leisure space form part of the plans.

There will also be a 2km riverside walkway, an ecology centre, a country park space and a cycling hub.

There will be seven schools, including five primaries, one secondary and one for special educational needs to provide infrastructure for the new homes.

Barking Riverside has also been earmarked as London’s first NHS Healthy New Town, which will embed health into design and living.

L&Q say that half of the homes will be affordable.

Cllr Darren Rodwell, Leader of Barking and Dagenham Council, said: “This is a hugely significant step not only for Barking Riverside but the whole borough. It’s part of our drive to make this part of the Thames a magnet for aspirational Londoners who want the wonders of waterside living without having to pay sky high rates.

“Why live further upstream in Chelsea or St Katherine’s Dock when you can move to Barcelona on Thames.”

Mr Khan said: “This is an incredibly exciting project for Barking and Dagenham, but also for the whole of London. As we tackle the biggest housing crisis of a generation, major developments like Barking Riverside will deliver thousands of the genuinely affordable new homes Londoners desperately need.

“As well as housing, our investment will create the new transport, education and health services needed to turn this into a thriving community.

“London will be home to 10 million people in the next decade - I am working to plan for that growth and to provide genuinely affordable homes for Londoners. That will mean increasing density, building on small sites and using my powers to deliver more affordable homes.”

Barking Riverside will create a town the size of Windsor. Until the 1990s there were three power stations and a large landfill site in the area.