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Thames Gateway plan needs a single leader, Mayor told
PIPPA CRERAR03.12.08
Boris Johnson came under pressure to appoint a "legacy czar" for the £9billion Thames Gateway development today or risk losing crucial investment.
Business groups called on the Mayor to set up a "one-stop shop" for potential investors - replacing the complex array of agencies currently involved.
They have repeatedly urged ministers not to miss the opportunity to make real progress on the regeneration project.
The Government is overseeing more than 60 taxpayer-funded agencies and organisations in connection with the scheme, often with overlapping responsibilities, and has just set up one more - the Homes and Communities Agency.
But Baroness Valentine, chief executive of business group London First, said the bodies were "falling over each other" rather than kick-starting regeneration in the area.
She said: "We need fewer well meant partnerships and more prospective deals with investors. [We need] strong leadership from Boris, who should appoint a legacy champion to own the vision, herd local, regional and national government cats and sell the opportunity to international investors - there are plenty still ready to spend in this difficult time."
Eamonn Boylan, deputy chief of the HCA which is now responsible for housing and regeneration in the region, has acknowledged the concerns.
He pledged to carry out a "stocktake" of the bodies in charge, as well as the financing and delivery of the biggest development of its kind in Europe.
"There has to be a structural review - I think we have to be clear we've done the thinking about what are complex structures. We have to be sure they're not impeding delivery," he said.
The regeneration scheme promised up to 225,000 jobs and 160,000 homes in a 40-mile corridor along the estuary from Docklands to Southend and Lewisham to the Isle of Sheppey.
Its complicated management structure requires scores of different organisations to work together in "management layers" and "funding streams".
The Mayor's office said that Mr Johnson hoped to provide better leadership when he took over as chair of the HCA's London board next month.
A spokesman said: "The Mayor will begin his chairmanship of the HCA London Board and will ... explore ways of creating greater clarity of leadership in the London Thames Gateway." Nationally, the Tories have promised to examine what the project has achieved so far, the reliability of population data, and the lack of governance.
Shadow minister for the Gateway, Stewart Jackson, said: "We must simplify the complex funding streams, which are confusing. At present, more than 100 organisations have some involvement in the project and more than 60 dispense public money.
"The confusion runs a real risk of undermining the long-term capacity of the Thames Gateway if people are bogged down with bureaucracy." However, the Department for Communities said the HCA would provide better leadership and insisted "good progress" had been made since it launched its delivery plan a year ago.
A spokesman said: "The Gateway is well placed to weather the economic difficulties and we remain committed to our ambition to regenerate the area."
Reader views (2)
Sound like a job for Super Ken!
The fact is that while this area covers Essex and Kent the population is mainly made up of Ex-Londoners who were moved from London to ease OVERCROWDING!!
This area has developed as a ribbon development and anyone who goes north (Essex)/South (Kent)by just a few miles will be in open country populated by farmer Giles and his family.
Transport is also a problem as South Essex has no Motorway having to cope with the A127 as a main road and the rail-lines into Fenchurch Street and Liverpool Street from Southend. There are no North/South Lines which means that Chelmsford is more remote from Canvey/Southend than London is.
A plan for a new rail/road link accross the Thames was announced but was opposed by our local MP Bob Spink (Then Tory now UKIP) When this is what is needed but it might spread population out more and pose a risk to Tory Shire seats.
Anyway with his cancelling the Dagenham Dock DLR extension and the Thames Gateway Bridge Boris dont seem to really care about this corridor as all he wants to do is dump heathrow passengers by the Essex Coast.
- Melvyn, Canvey Island, Essex
One look at the map gives an answer. There is only one crossing at Dartford. Thames Gateway can never be an integrated economic area as long as this persists.....just a name. In fact, integration has been given a massive disincentive by raising the toll by 50%. Why has millions been spent West of London on 5 lane motorways with no toll charges while the East of London pays 50% more for its link?? A toll chazge on the M4 to Heathrow is more than justified given the massive expenditure on the M25 in the area. There is a desperate need for a crossing/bridge between the North and the South Circular at Woolwich and at Canvey with the Isle of Grain and the M2. These crossings would transform the economy of the East of London and to the North East as much as the wide M25 and M4 corridor has transformed the West.
- Andrew Barton, Brentwood Essex UK
