120,000 homes for key workers
The first stage of a massive new housing drive in London and the South-East was today spearheaded by Tony Blair with a pledge to build 120,000 new homes.
They will go up at five "strategic locations" along the Thames and on both sides of the estuary in Kent and Essex at a cost of £446million.
Some 40 miles of riverside will be affected in what will be the biggest housebuilding boom for decades. Ministers also claim 180,000 jobs will be created.
The Government wants a major expansion in the number of homes available for key workers who have been priced out of the London market.
The plan for the Thames Gateway, officially unveiled by the Prime Minister today, is the first stage of proposals by John Prescott to build 200,000 new homes in the area by 2031.
Overall, the number of new dwellings in the South-East could rise by almost one million by then. The Government wants to build mainly on industrial "brownfield" sites but campaigners claim greenfield sites are threatened.
The plans being outlined today include new "growth zones" right along the Thames Gateway corridor which could turn into mini- Canary Wharfs.
One key location is Ebbsfleet, an important staging post for the Channel Tunnel rail link which should be completed in 2007. It will become a major commercial centre and will have a brand-new station.
The five strategic locations earmarked are:
- Stratford: the hub of London's bid for the 2012 Olympic Games and the venue for a proposed Olympic Stadium and village, which could be turned into affordable housing.
- Greenwich and Woolwich: another largely run-down area where new communities are planned, including a large number of new homes on the Dome site.
- Barking: could get 12,000 new homes over the next 15 years, centring on Barking Reach, the 200-hectare site of an old power station. This should benefit from a £200 million extension of the Docklands light railway.
- Thurrock: another "new town" site where the existing urban development corporation is to get sweeping new planning powers.
There are still may hurdles to be overcome - not least concerns that not enough government cash will be made available to fund transport links and other vital public services.
The all-party local government and regional affairs committee has hit out at the scale of Mr Prescott's proposals, which also include big developments at Milton Keynes, Stansted and Ashford.
