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The DCLG has defended its handling of the multimillion-pound Thames Gateway regeneration project. A report by the public accounts committee claimed the Whitehall department was not up to the job of handling regeneration of the 40-mile stretch from Canary Wharf to the mouth of the River Thames. ‘The department has not yet established the basic arrangements for controlling the programme including – incredibly – a budget,' said committee chairman, Edward Leigh. ‘Crucial to the enterprise's success will be a full and co-ordinated contribution by Whitehall departments but, like a child clamouring for the attention of bigger classmates, it does not have the influence to make this happen.' But a DCLG spokesman said the report was ‘already out-of-date'. ‘Following the recent spending review, we will shortly be publishing our delivery plan for the Gateway in which we will set out fully-costed plans to continue regenerating the area,' said the spokesman. ‘We have clear targets to create 160,000 new homes and 180,000 new jobs by 2016. We are on course to meet, if not exceed, those targets.' The DCLG's handling of the Thames Gateway was also condemned by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. ‘This is a stunning denunciation of everything project management is supposed to be about,' said shadow local government minister Alistair Burt. ‘The people of the Thames Gateway deserve better,' he added. ‘The problems in this report have been obvious for some time, identified by even the Government's own urban task force two years ago.' Liberal Democrat, Tom Brake, said ministers ‘do not know how much it will cost, whether it represents value for money, or who is responsible for what'.

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ECONOMIC GROWTH

DCLG on defensive after critical Gateway report

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