Plans to build 3,800 homes on the site of a former Parcelforce depot have been unanimously approved by councillors.

Members of the strategic development committee voted last night to agree to the proposals for the site on Stephenson Street, close to West Ham station.

The development, by Berkeley Homes, will be built in stages and will also feature community, retail and commercial space, along with a 4.5 acre park.

East London Science School – currently in Bromley-by-Bow – will occupy a plot at the south of the site, where it will provide a secondary education for 1,000 pupils.

The planning application for the site explains that it will be developed in four phases.

The first will include 1,020 homes, of which 402 will be for private sale and 229 available for shared ownership. The others will be for rent - 290 private and 99 affordable.

The homes will be a mixture of studio flats and one, two and three bedroom properties.

The first phase will also include the construction of the new East London Science School building, along with 5,400 sq m of retail space, 689 sq m of office space and 284sq m of community space.

There will also be 180 parking spaces and 1,869 sq m of what has been called ‘play space’.

The school itself will feature a sports hall, a multi-use games area and a lecture theatre, all of which can be used by the community out of hours.

Two new pedestrian footbridges over both the railway line and Manor Road will be built as part of the development, as well as a direct link to West Ham station.

Work on the first phase of development is due to begin in April, with an estimated completion date of April 2022.

The whole development is expected to be completed by the summer of 2029.

The site has remained derelict since the depot was demolished in 2012. It was used as a coach park during the Olympics but has remained empty since then.

The development’s approval means that a £40m housing grant to build 1,000 affordable homes in the borough by 2021 is a step closer to becoming a reality.

It comes after a memorandum of understanding between the mayor of Newham, Sir Robin Wales, and his counterpart for London, Sadiq Khan, was agreed last month - with any funding subject to the Stephenson Street development gaining planning consent.