16th May 2008
The Thames Gateway
The Thames Gateway stretches for 40 miles along the Thames Estuary from the London Docklands to Southend in Essex and Sheerness in Kent. Its boundary was drawn to capture the riverside strip that hosted many land extensive industries that formerly served London and the South East, and whose decline has left a legacy of large scale brownfield sites.
The area contains some 3,150 hectares of brownfield land providing excellent opportunities to help meet the increasing demand for housing at the same time as preserving as much of the 65 per cent that is valuable green space land as possible.
The Gateway has 1.45m residents and approximately 600,000 households, averaging 2.4 people per household. There are currently over 600,000 employees working in the Thames Gateway.
The area contains some 3,150 hectares of brownfield land providing excellent opportunities to help meet the increasing demand for housing at the same time as preserving as much of the 65 per cent that is valuable green space land as possible.
The Gateway has 1.45m residents and approximately 600,000 households, averaging 2.4 people per household. There are currently over 600,000 employees working in the Thames Gateway.
By 2016, the vision for the Thames Gateway includes:
- 180,000 new jobs through encouraging business and economic investment offering local residents a wider range of career options
- 160,000 new, well designed, sustainable homes including affordable units for rent or purchase by first time buyers including key workers, supported by high quality transport infrastructure
- improve education facilities to enhance the local skills base, helping residents to obtain jobs and better prospects
- high quality healthcare, reducing the existing inequalities across the area
- major improvement to the image and environment of the Gateway, including higher quality design and attractive open spaces, with improved green spaces and access to the river. In recent years, over 80% per cent of approved developments have been on brownfield sites.
For more information on the Thames Gateway, visit the website >>
