HCA to take on Thurrock UDC’s remit

  A development body charged with driving regeneration in the Thames Gateway is to be wound up three years early following a review of England’s urban development corporations (UDCs). The Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation, which is leading on projects including the regeneration of Purfleet, the London Gateway port in Shellhaven, and on development around the Lakeside shopping centre, will be taken over by the Homes and Communities Agency next year. It had been due to run until 2014. TTGDC chairman Will McKee said: “While the Development Corporation’s line of reporting will change in April 2011, when its staff transfer to the HCA, the organisation’s remit and commitment to Thurrock will remain and we will continue to work towards our existing targets.” The five-yearly review examined the future of all three of England’s UDCs, which were created in 2004 with a 10-year lifespan. The West Northamptonshire Development Corporation, which supports regeneration in Northampton, Daventry and Towcester, will have some of its planning powers devolved to local councils next April. At present it is responsible for schemes of 50 or more homes, but this will be raised to 200. Regeneration minister Ian Austin said this would create “a stronger, more focussed UDC working closely with local authorities and communities”. However, the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation will continue in its current form until after the 2012 Olympic Games, although will be asked to concentrate increasingly on the Lower Lea Valley rather than its other area of responsibility on London Riverside. Following the review, the London Boroughs of Newham, Tower Hamlets and Hackney have been invited to submit proposals for a new planning regime for the Lower Lea Valley, while the London Riverside boroughs of Havering and Barking and Dagenham have been asked to do the same for their area.  Ministers said a further review of the LTGDC, which also has a role in delivering London’s Olympic legacy, would take place when the Olympic Delivery Authority is wound up. Responding Elliot Lipton, managing director of First Base, said: “The original reasons for establishing LTGDC still remain true. New development will play a key role in creating sustainable communities within East London, which means there is a continuing need for an organisation that can look at investment, land use, housing and employment across the Gateway rather than on a site by site basis.    “LTGDC has been that organisation and its big picture outlook has focused on more effective intervention.  “The outputs from this review should enable the urban development corporation to build on its work to date and to bring forward new development to benefit the area as a whole.     “In particular, collaboration between the LTGDC and those involved in delivering the Olympics will be key to ensuring a lasting legacy from the Games for Stratford and the wider East London community after 2012.” patrick.clift@estatesgazette.com