Thames Gateway 'lacks leadership'

The Civil Engineering Contractors Association is calling for a more streamlined approach to delivering infrastructure in the Thames Gateway after MPs slammed the government's progress on the project.

Association director Rosemary Beales said: "The lack of leadership and guidance from government, the lack of finance for key infrastructure and the lack of joined-up thinking within public sector circles is seriously hampering the development of the Gateway area."

The call follows a Commons Public Accounts Committee hearing last week, in which the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) was warned that the enterprise risked "ending in another public spending calamity".

The department has already spent £673m on the project since 2003 without a proper budget being set. The committee heard that work on major sites was being delayed because agreement on main transport links had not been reached.

It also warned that the government's target of building 160,000 homes in the area could be missed by 65,000 unless the rate of building increased.

A DCLG spokesman countered: "We simply do not recognise many of the suggestions in the report."

The government plans to bring 350,000 new residents to the Gateway, creating 180,000 new jobs and adding up to £12bn a year to the UK's economy.

But aspects of the project have been hit by delays, with plans for the £385m Thames Gateway Bridge linking Newham and Greenwich being considered by a second public inquiry, ordered in July this year.