A new neighbourhood the size of Windsor is set to be created in Barking Riverside.

Almost 11,000 homes will be created under the fast-tracked plans which will involve about 600 homes being built a year.

The development also includes the London Overground line being extended to Barking Riverside, allowing residents to reach central London within just 25 minutes.

New roads, bus routes and river taxi services will further connect the neighbourhood to other parts of the capital.

About 65,000 sq m of commercial, retail and community facilities, one secondary and up to four primary schools, public squares and walkways and major new highway infrastructure are also in the pipeline.

London and Quadrant (L&Q) has invested £70m into the £263m project to join with the Greater London Authority (GLA) to drive major regeneration of the 179-hectare former Barking power station site, which has been dormant for more than 35 years.

About a third of the 10,800 new homes will be affordable.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “Having languished empty for far too long, this former power station site is now ripe and ready not only to deliver thousands of new much-needed new homes, but creating jobs and growth in a whole new bustling town in east London.”

Leader of Barking and Dagenham Council, Cllr Darren Rodwell, described the development as a “key regeneration scheme”, adding that the London Overground extension was “of considerable benefit to both the existing community and those thinking of moving here”.

Work on the Overground extension will begin next year and will be complete by 2021.