Zac Goldsmith believes he has an "ethical obligation" to demolish London's council estates, he said last night.

The Conservative candidate for mayor told a hustings organised by the property industry charity Land Aid that the city's post-war era housing estates are "past their use-by date" and must be "regenerated" in order to tackle London's housing crisis.

He pointed to research by the estate agents Savills, which suggests that as many as 360,000 additional homes could be built on land currently housing local authority estates.

Under Savills' plans, existing estates would be replaced with higher density "terraced housing and mid-rise mansion blocks".

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