I am delighted that mayor of London Boris Johnson has made a commitment to release land held by the Greater London Authority
for affordable house building.

The mayor certainly recognises the need to tackle the desperate lack of affordable housing in the capital and it is good news for Londoners on ever-growing waiting lists who may now get a chance to move into one of the estimated 32,000 additional homes that will be built as a result of this initiative.

Hyde Group and others in the sector fully support this idea, which clearly has cross-party support. It has been widely discussed by the government and has the backing of both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, which are both calling for faster release of public sector land for house building.

The first step is a public land audit, and when its results are published it will be interesting to see exactly where this land is and how it will be released.

However, I urge the mayor to not just carry out the audit, but to make sure that the homes get built, by improving the planning process, focusing on delivering the homes communities need and helping developers to access the funding.

Mr Johnson should first focus on making affordable housing more feasible for developers, and that means speeding up and simplifying planning and removing inflated or unrealistic constraints on the types of new homes built.

If the technology required to meet these constraints is not available in the UK and has not been tested to suit our climate and needs, will it help or hinder our efforts to deliver homes that are both sustainable and feasible?

The audit of GLA land will uncover where sites are available. But how can this be squared with the need to build not just the type of homes that people need, but where people want to live and where the need is greatest? In Islington, where Hyde is regenerating Packington Square, homes are in high demand and we responded by building an additional 300, as well as new social rented homes and community and commercial space.

The mayor’s commitment to assist and support the development of sustainable funding models to building the homes on the land he has identified will be key to their delivery. Without this funding we won’t be able to build the much-needed new housing and provide people with places to call home.

Mr Johnson simply needs to take the appropriate action on planning and funding - and we will deliver the homes.

David Eastgate is chief executive of Hyde Group

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