Skip to main content
BBC NEWS / UK POLITICS
Graphics VersionBBC Sport Home
News Front Page | Africa | Americas | Asia-Pacific | Europe | Middle East | South Asia | UK | Business | Health | Science & Environment | Technology | Entertainment | Also in the news | Have Your Say |
UK Contents:  England | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales | UK Politics | Education | Magazine

Thursday, 29 November 2007, 08:05 GMT

Thames Gateway housing plans due

Gateway site Details of how more than £9bn will be spent on building 160,000 homes in the Thames Valley are to be announced by the housing minister.

Yvette Cooper will outline plans for infrastructure around the vast project, such as transport, education and work.

The estimated number of new jobs in the area has risen from 180,000 to 225,000, she will say.

The "eco-region" will use environmental measures in the new homes, as well as improvements to existing homes.

The "eco-region" idea is to build Thames Gateway with minimal environmental impact, making new homes "carbon-zero" by 2016, with 80% built on previously-developed land.

The area stretches 40 miles from London's Lower Lea Valley east along the Thames into Essex and Kent.

'Ambitions'

Ms Cooper will praise recent transport projects, such as the Crossrail train link, and London Gateway, the biggest deepwater port in Europe.

"We have already achieved a great deal but we must raise our ambitions and go further and faster.

"We've now set out plans and money to do so - with a new eco-region offering a great quality of life for its inhabitants; with new educational opportunities and transport links as well as affordable homes," Ms Cooper is set to say.

"And with better training to equip the local workforce to benefit from the 225,000 new jobs in their area."

Earlier this month, a committee of MPs criticised the management of the project by Communities and Local Government, Ms Cooper's department.

It warned that Britain's biggest regeneration project could become a "public spending calamity" if management is not "vastly" improved.




E-mail this to a friend
Related to this story:
Challenge of the Thames Gateway (29 Nov 07 |  UK )
MPs warning on regeneration plan (15 Nov 07 |  UK Politics )
Warning over Gateway homes target (23 May 07 |  London )

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
Thames Gateway Forum
Communities and Local Government
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites



SEARCH BBC NEWS: 

News Front Page | Africa | Americas | Asia-Pacific | Europe | Middle East | South Asia | UK | Business | Health | Science & Environment | Technology | Entertainment | Also in the news | Have Your Say |
UK Contents:  England | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales | UK Politics | Education | Magazine

NewsWatch | Notes | Contact us | About BBC News | Profiles | History

^ Back to top | BBC Sport Home | BBC Homepage | Contact us | Help | ©