Housing hike for Thames Gateway

A further 40,000 homes are to be built as part of Thames Gateway, up a third on the previous plans, Ruth Kelly announced today.

But she was critical of the ones produced so far, claiming: "Some of the homes in the Gateway could have been better designed. We must not be afraid to learn from our experiences."

The communities secretary was speaking at the launch of the interim plan for the development opf the Thames Estuary over the next 10 years. 

She said the number of houses will be increased from 120,000 to 160,000, with one third being affordable housing.  Kelly also agreed there should be a change in the balance, with more family housing. This follows criticism that four out of five of the homes planned were only one- to two-bed flats, thus unsuitable for families who would have to leave the area, leading to an unbalanced community.

Overall the scheme will create 180,000 new jobs potentially contributing £12bn to the UK economy,.

In a challenge to developers, she warned that Thames Gateway will start as a low carbon development, but that will change to zero, with no net emissions.

She said: "Out joint ambition has to be building a Gateway of homes, not just houses, and communities, not simply conurbations. There is a huge amount more to do, but this month represents an important step forward with two key building blocks in place, the publicaiton of our new plan and Judith Armitt starting work as chief executive."