Plans to regenerate London housing estates could lead to the loss of 542 social homes in the Bexley borough and 1479 in Greenwich - drastically reducing the options for residents on the lowest incomes.

Last month, David Cameron announced his plans to replace 100 of the country's most run-down "sink estates" with "attractive and safe new homes" - thereby improving quality of life for the most disadvantaged.

In some cases, this would require demolishing whole estates - and replacing them with high-quality homes, the Prime Minister added.

However new figures, released today (February 4), reveal that up to 7,326 social homes will be lost across London - if all the future developments with planning permission go ahead.

Some of those taken into account have not yet started, others are part of the way through being built.

After the regeneration, there may be 333 more afforable homes in Bexley, although Greenwich could equally have 268 less.

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London Assembly Member and Green Party member Darren Johnson said: "Under the cover of tired stereotypes about sink estates, the Mayor is whittling away at homes that are genuinely affordable to Londoners.

"He then tries to deceive by talking about new homes being built, without mentioning all those he is knocking down.

"With a few exceptions, estate regeneration has been a complete disaster in London and has made our housing crisis worse.

"It's time he called a stop to the demolitions."

A spokesman for the Mayor of London said: "These figures are misleading because they only take into account the affordable homes replaced within the new development, ignoring those that are delivered off site as a direct result of estate regeneration.

"By only looking at the pipeline, they also ignore all the homes that have already been delivered - earlier phases tend to prioritise the delivery of affordable homes ahead of market homes."