Thames Gateway gets detailed business plan

The document, Sustainable Communities: Delivering the Thames Gateway, is the most detailed overview of the strategy published so far and has been broadly welcomed by the sector.

Projects announced with the £38m of spending review funding included £13.6m for Rochester Riverside to transform 70 acres of brownfield land into a new urban quarter with 2000 new homes.

The document was launched on 31 March.

But key Gateway figures said it should be mainly read as an update on the strategy, and an attempt to begin firming up delivery timetables, rather than providing any new information.

John Prescott said: “This is our strategy for the next decade. We are spending something like £6bn across government on schools, hospitals, infrastructure and other development. It’s regeneration on a European scale.”