A new mini town of more than 700 homes, a hotel and conference centre will be built on the sites of West Park and St Ebba's hospitals in south-east London.

The huge new estates to be developed on 54 hectares (133 acres) will be good news for people struggling to find a home, but there are no details on how roads and schools will be adapted to cope with the influx of people.

Some of the old hospital buildings will be retained and converted into apartments or the hotel, while the new-build homes will be environmentally friendly.

Levels of carbon emissions from the new houses will be up to 50 per cent lower than those from conventionally built homes.

One third of the new houses will be affordable, some targeted at first time buyers, while others will be available to rent.

Work is expected to start in the spring next year but there are no detailed plans of how the local road and school infrastructure will be adapted to cope with the extra traffic and children.

The land has been sold off to developers Crest Nicholson and Galliford Try for an undisclosed sum by English Partnerships, the national regeneration agency which took over the land from the NHS.

Horton Farm, off Hook Road, is part of the land that has been sold, but it is designated as leisure or open space.

Twelve acres of the St Ebba's site will be retained for healthcare purposes and the New Epsom Cottage Hospital will remain open at West Park.

English Partnerships has promised that shops to serve the estates will be built when work on the first homes gets under way.

Many people living on the first estates built on the sites of the former psychiatric hospitals have complained of being left high and dry without any facilities.

David Ashworth, south east area director of English Partnerships said: "We plan an area of retail units. We want to create a hub of the community which is what is missing at the moment.

"We have higher aspirations now than we did at the start and hopefully we have learned more about what makes a community."

He also promised extensive public consultation exercises before the development starts and discussions on what changes will be needed to the infrastructure surrounding the new homes.

Councillor Jonathan Lees, who lives on the Manor Park estate, said: "I would have hoped they would have learned and thought about the infrastructure before they start to build more houses and what demands more people will make on local services.

"It feels like a forgotten land here. If English Partnerships want to hold a public consultation, they should ask us and learn what the top 10 issues are - that would be a good place to start."

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