More than 6,000 homes will have to be built in the borough over the next five years to meet new housing targets expected to be set by the Mayor of London for the capital as a whole.

Barking and Dagenham will have to triple is current rate of delivery to meet the new targets as well as provide an extra 206 homes per year on top of its existing minimum annual housing requirement of 1,065 homes.

The objectives are an attempt to cope with data projections for London’s booming population over the next two decades and are being considered as draft alterations to mayor Boris Johnson’s long-term planning strategy, known as the London Plan.In it the mayor has also set an expectation of seeing 9,000 new jobs created in Barking and Dagenham by 2036.

Speaking at a Development Control Board meeting on Monday, March 10, development planning manager Daniel Pope told members the council had previously taken 13 years to build the number of homes it was now tasked with building in five.

He said: “It is a significant challenge. The green belt should be protected, although it will come under significant pressure due to the nature of these targets.”

Under the suggestion of Cllr Cameron Geddes, cabinet member for regeneration, the board voted unanimously to change the wording in the council’s written acceptance of these new targets from “we support” them to “we understand” them.

It followed concerns that without investment in infrastructure, namely transport, there would be considerable difficulty in meeting the objectives.

The board were told that the mayor’s plan supported higher densities of residential space around transport hubs and in town centres.

It also heard how capacity for new homes at London Riverside — including Barking Riverside, South Dagenham and Barking Town Centre — had been increased from by 1,500 to 26,500.

Mr Pope said the he had been lobbying for an extension of the Overground line to Barking Riverside and expected to hear an announcement in the Chancellor George Osborne’s March budget.

The closure of the Ford Dagenham stamping plant was also said to have opened up the area around Beam Park and Dagenham Dock station for redevelopment.

Barking and Dagenham is expected to grow from 185,900 people, as revealed in the 2011 census, to 224,882 people by 2012 and 265,267 people by 2036.