Funding for two major London regeneration schemes in the area surrounding the Olympic park is to be cut as the Homes and Communities Agency reviews £241m of grants for private housing schemes hit by the recession

It is understood that £17.5m in Kickstart funding is to be cut from schemes in Canning Town by housebuilder Countryside and regeneration joint venture the English Cities Fund (ECF). This includes £3.2m for Countryside’s 650-home Canning Town Area 3 scheme, and £14.3m for ECF’s Rathbone Market scheme, also set to deliver 650 homes.

The decision, communicated informally to project partners, was due to be ratified at a London HCA board meeting yesterday.

In total, £61.7m of Kickstart money is under review for 13 schemes in the capital, including six by Berkeley Group - among them its £750m regeneration of the Kidbrooke estate in south London.

A source close to the situation said the news did not necessarily mean the Canning Town schemes would be axed, as the possibility of bidding for social housing grant was being investigated.

The HCA did announce this week that £3.7m had been found to fund a St Modwen scheme on the site of the former Longbridge car plant in Birmingham.