Business body London First has launched a consultative study to assess ways of delivering the capital's affordable housing targets.
The body believes that planning initiatives worth £1.3bn, announced last week, will not be sufficient to match demand in London.

Valerie Owen, head of London First's regeneration taskforce, said: "Without government commitment to fundamental infrastructure improvements, particularly CrossRail and the Thames Gateway river crossings, London has not got a hope of building the amount of new homes it needs."

The body has arranged six seminars to help draw up an affordable housing strategy. The document, to be called Delivering Affordable Housing in London, will be launched in October.

Seminar participants will include representatives from the London Development Agency, Westminster council, the RIBA and United House.

Owen said: "We have brought together senior figures from London's large employers with developers, planners, housing bodies and representatives of national, regional and local government."

n The House Builders Federation has welcomed plans to impose housing targets on local authorities unveiled in the comprehensive spending review. An HBF spokesperson said: "We have a national housing crisis because government housebuilding targets are being thwarted by local self-interest groups. It is essential to have mandatory targets."

The National Housing Federation, representing housing associations, welcomed the boost to affordable housing and a new £500m housing market renewal fund that would compensate homeowners blighted by negative equity.