A ground-breaking scheme in London’s East End for Britain’s first community land trust housing has been submitted to Tower Hamlets council for formal planning approval.

The former six-acre Grade II-Listed St Clement’s Hospital in the Mile End Road is being transformed by the East London Community Land Trust in partnership with developers Land & Property.

Land Trust director David Smith said: “The plans for St Clement’s are a new model for London designed with and for the community of Mile End.”

The trust is to sell 23 of the 252 homes at a-quarter of the London property market value, while retaining ownership of the land itself. These homes would then be sold back to the trust if the families move on, at a fixed price for future generations.

The trust won backing for the scheme from London Mayor Boris Johnson earlier this year to create low-cost housing on a similar model to urban land trusts in the US.

Deputy Mayor Richard Blakeway said: “We are releasing surplus land owned by City Hall because of a pressing need for more housing.

“These plans also give the historic St Clement’s back to the public with land ownership transferred to the community, breathing new life into this long-neglected area.”

The former workhouse that later became a mental hospital closed in 2005 and has been lying empty ever since.

A third of the new homes will be low-cost, most being retained by the Peabody housing group for social rent, while the remaining two-thirds go on the open market.

The complex includes a public square with café or restaurant and other open spaces.