17 August 2007 

A fierce attack on Conservative Party proposals to build a new 250,000-home city in the south-east has been launched by Gillingham and Rainham MP Paul Clark.

The proposals are at the heart of a report commissioned by Tory Leader David Cameron to help develop policies to improve Britain’s competitiveness.

John Redwood, Chair of the Economic Competitiveness Policy Group that produced the report, believes that a new city in the Thames corridor, between London and Medway, would help alleviate the housing shortage in the region.

But Mr Clark labelled the proposals “batty” and claims that any such development would starve Medway of jobs, strangle the local economy and have “disastrous” environmental effects.

The city would be built on land reclaimed along the Thames estuary, and according to Mr Clark could “decimate an area of worldwide environmental importance”.

“Just weeks ago I toured the environmental sites of the Medway estuary with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. The Tory’s proposals could spell the end for these internationally recognised sites,” he said.

The Medway estuary is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a designated Ramsar site for the protection of wetlands, and is under European protection for its bird habitat.

Mr Clark said it was hypocritical councils like Medway that were responsible for such ridiculous suggestions even being considered.

Last year the council’s ruling Conservative Cabinet restricted the level of affordable housing to 25 per cent of all new homes, when council officers initially recommended a level of 35 per cent.

Yet one of the main reasons behind the Conservative proposal for a new city is to bring forward a greater supply of affordable housing.

Mr Redwood’s plans propose that low grade agricultural land should be used to build houses outside of urban areas.

The report labels current planning regulations which protect the green belt and encourage building on brownfield land as “over-restrictive”.

The plans also bring into sharp focus the recent threat posed to the Capstone Valley by a consortium of landowners, Medway Magna.

Medway Council has already found itself under pressure to release Greenfield land for development after failing to convince the Planning Inspector that it has allocated sufficient space for new jobs and business in its development plans.

Mr Clark claims that the Tory’s proposals could render any economic aspirations pointless if they come to fruition.

The Government’s existing Thames Gateway project, which encompasses Medway, already aims to deliver 160,000 new homes and 180,000 new jobs. It emphasises the importance of building sustainable communities that combine open space with economic growth, better transport and more schools and hospitals.

Mr Clark, who is Secretary of the Thames Gateway All Party Parliamentary Group, said: “The idea that building a new city is some sort of panacea to the housing problems in the south east is completely barmy. The Government’s sustainable communities project, Thames Gateway, has given over £100m of investment to projects in Medway in the last few years and delivered unparalleled regeneration to the area, new jobs, homes, transport and social infrastructure, more green spaces and a thriving economy.”

“What John Redwood’s plans make no mention of is the infrastructure that would be required to support his project. Every step of the way under Thames Gateway, Medway has combined physical regeneration with new social infrastructure. The current programme is working so I’d be very interested to hear where the local Tory council stands on this hair-brained scheme put forward by their colleagues in London.”

The plans are a huge extension of Mr Redwood’s proposals last year for a settlement of just 50,000 homes in the Thames estuary.

Mr Clark is now calling on Medway’s Tory Cabinet to publicly reject Mr Redwood’s plans and to increase the supply of affordable homes in Medway.

Notes to Editors
1. For further info ring Scott Young 020 7219 5207
2. The Thames Gateway programme will support the delivery of over 2,500 homes and 900 jobs at Rochester and Strood Riversides. Also, three universities and a college have combined to share a new campus, at Chatham Maritime, increasing full time education student places from 2000 in 2002 to 10,000 by 2010.