Families have been personally welcomed into new council flats by Hackney mayor Philip Glanville.

Fifteen flats for social rent have been built on a recently acquired site near Victoria Park that was empty for nearly 20 years after a 1960s estate was demolished.

The flats, in King Edward’s Road, have a communal boiler to minimise emissions and no car parking facilities and were built alongside 17 luxury apartments for private sale. The social homes are being given to people on the council’s 13,000-strong waiting list.

Margaret Bibby, who moved in with her one-year-old son Prince, said: “It’s like a weight has been taken off my shoulders. A roof over your head is the most important thing and everyone here is so excited.”

Mr Glanville said: “Because we’re building ourselves, we can guarantee local people like Ms Bibby and her son will get first dibs on new homes and they won’t be sold to buy-to-let investors or subject to the whims of a developer’s viability test.”