Plans for the third phase of the flagship Woodberry Down Estate regeneration have been approved – with almost double the number of social homes as originally proposed.

The 117 social homes will still only make up 20 per cent of the 584-home project, but that’s up from 64 homes, or 11%.

The project was given the green light at a virtual planning meeting on Thursday.

There will also be 126 shared ownership homes, which mean under the current categorisation there are 243 “genuinely affordable” homes on the way – or 42%. That’s below the 50% policy, but the council says it should be viewed alongside the rest of the estate regeneration project – even though the whole project will only have 40% affordable housing.

Existing council tenants whose existing homes are set for demolition under the programme are guaranteed the right to return to one of the new homes at the same type of social rent. Hundreds of tenants have already moved into a new home over the last 11 years.

The project will also include the planting of 175 new trees, to help replace the loss of a small number of existing trees, as well as the equivalent of 29 tennis courts of new open spaces, including a new fully public park.

Hackney mayor Phil Glanville said: “Our partnership at Woodberry Down is delivering one of Europe’s biggest single-site regeneration project, providing new, modern, genuinely affordable homes for existing tenants and fantastic new facilities and open spaces for everyone.

“I’m proud that through genuine engagement with local people and our partners, we’re improved our plans by not only improving the green spaces and number of trees, but also continuing to deliver even more of the social housing our borough so desperately needs.”

Once complete, the 25-year project will see more than 5,500 new homes built, replacing around 2,000 existing homes the council says are at the end of their life.

As well as new homes, the project has seen the creation of the Redmond Community Centre, the opening of Woodberry Wetlands to the public for the first time in nearly 200 years, new play facilities at Spring Park, and the new Skinners’ Academy secondary school.