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Housing: Thames Gateway

Volume 687: debated on Wednesday 22 November 2006

My right honourable friend the Minister for Housing and Planning has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

Today the Government are publishing the Thames Gateway interim plan. It is a statement of common purpose by the members of the Thames Gateway Strategic Partnership, which I chair as Minister for Housing and Planning. The interim plan sets out the opportunities and priorities for delivery over the next few years, including:

economic and employment opportunities in the key transformational locations: Canary Wharf, Ebbsfleet Valley, the Olympic site/Stratford City and the gateway ports cluster, and in the town centres, aiming to create the conditions for 180,000 new jobs;

housing to accommodate the region’s growing workforce and improve conditions for current residents in 160,000 well designed new homes;

environmental opportunity, through the creation of the Thames gateway parklands and new approaches to addressing climate change; and

community opportunity, through investment in education and training, better quality public services and support for inclusive communities.

Copies of the interim plan and supporting documents are being placed in the Libraries. The final version of the plan will be published after the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review.