Warning over Gateway homes target

The government has pledged 160,000 homes by 2016

House building in Europe's largest regeneration project "needs to more than double" to meet its target, the National Audit Office (NAO) has warned.

The government has pledged to build 160,000 new homes by 2016 in the Thames Gateway, a 40-mile area between east London and parts of Kent and Essex.

The NAO said ministers had yet to produce a coherent fully-costed plan for the multi-billion programme.

A government spokesman said the rate of house building was being accelerated.

'Step change'

The NAO's report into the Thames Gateway programme said house building was not growing as fast as the rest of south-east England.

It said the number of homes delivered had risen from around 4,500 in 1995/96 to 6,000 in 2005/06.

But it said building would have to more than double to about 12,500 homes a year if the 2016 target is to be met.

While an estimated £7bn of taxpayers' money has been invested already in infrastructure, more money was still needed, it said.

The report also criticised ministers for failing to produce a fully-costed detailed plan for the project.

"The Thames Gateway is Western Europe's most ambitious regeneration programme," said the report.

"The legacy of the last 200 years has been one of relative decline in the Thames Estuary and East London."

It said the government aspired to a "world-class region with unrivalled locations for working and living".

But the NAO warned a "step change" was needed to deliver "the high quality transport, housing, health, education, leisure and employment opportunities the region needs".

The Department for Communities and Local Government said considerable investment has gone into the area.

A spokesman said: "While there are clearly areas where further activity is still needed, such as accelerating the rate of house building, much of this is already under way.

"Progress has been made on delivering a cross-government co-ordination on investment and programme management."