Management of Gateway project woeful, say MPs

In a scathing report, the Commons public accounts committee said ministers had no idea how much the scheme would cost, whether it represented value for money or who was responsible for what.

The project, the largest regeneration scheme in western Europe, is expected to involve the building of 160,000 homes in east London, Essex and Kent by 2016.

It has so far swallowed about £7billion in taxpayers' money but the all-party committee said its management had been so woeful there was no way of knowing how much had been spent.

The report also warned that, at the present rate of development, ministers would miss their housebuilding target.

In a withering set of conclusions, the MPs said:

The Department for Communities and Local Government's management of the scheme was "weak" and not suited to the project's scale and size.

There were no "robust systems" in place to measure progress.

There was no clear chain of command for the 100 organisations involved.

The Government did not know how much the regeneration would cost the taxpayer.

Local residents may not benefit from the extra investment.

The report added that the problem was exacerbated by Hazel Blears's department's "perceived lack of clout" in Whitehall.

It had yet to establish basic procedures such as a clear budget, an implementation-plan, public reporting on progress and measurable performance indicators.

The MPs warned that this would continue even though ministers were funnelling another £673 million into the scheme.

Committee chairman Edward Leigh said the department was "manifestly not up to the job of managing the enormously ambitious enterprise ... action must be taken now to prevent another public spending calamity".

He added: "It still amounts to little more than a group of disjointed projects."

Lib-Dem London spokesman Tom Brake said: "The Government can't afford to let this development fail.

"A minister must be appointed with real authority to oversee the whole project and put in place a management team with enough clout to ensure the Thames Gateway is a success."

The Department for Communities and Local Government said it did not recognise many suggestions in the report and it was on course to meet, and even exceed, its targets.

A spokesman said: "The pace of change in the Gateway is such that the report is already out of date. It is baffling that it should propose handing over the Gateway to the Homes and Communities Agency, which won't actually exist for two years.

"In the last 12 months alone, government investment and intervention have delivered major progress, with the opening of two international stations on the high-speed rail link, agreement on Crossrail and major progress on the Olympic developments and at Stratford."