A battle is brewing between the new Homes and Communities Agency and Thames Gateway regeneration chiefs over who will have control of the 200,000-acre expanse.
HCA chief executive Bob Kerslake wants to scrap the planning powers of the Gateway’s three urban development companies.
The three UDCs are Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation, London Thames Gateway Development Corporation and Kent Thameside Regeneration Partnership.
The move by the HCA, which officially comes into being on 1 December, will give it the final say over the development of major schemes in the area. However, the UDCs warned that it would create uncertainty and deter investors.
A source said: “Kerslake thinks the UDC’s planning powers should be devolved, but the government has been pretty clear – these powers are needed for effective regeneration. The HCA is supposed to be encouraging investment.
The last thing we need, against the backdrop of a pretty grim recession, is doubt in the minds of those investors.”
The HCA – a merger of English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation – said that the future role of each UDC would “depend upon the value of the contribution it makes and the strength of its local relationships”.
Peter Andrews, chief executive of the LTGDC, which this year signed off £237m of investment plans to kickstart development in the area, said he believed the government “was unambiguously of the view that LTGDC needed to hold planning powers to effectively deliver regeneration”.
The UDCs have been vying for greater control of the £9bn Thames Gateway project for years. In late 2007, several called for the Thames Gateway Delivery Unit to be scrapped.
No one from the Department for Communities and Local Government would comment.
