REGIONAL ASSEMBLY MEMBERS VISIT SUCCESSFUL HOUSING SITES IN KENT

AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN THE THAMES GATEWAY AND NEIGHBOURING AREAS was the focus of a recent tour of Kent by the Assembly's Regional Planning Committee.

The Committee visited the area in order to see first hand the ways in which Kent local authorities are dealing with housing problems in the county and to look, in particular, at examples of good practice in housing development.

Particular sites which the Committee visited included:

• Chatham Maritime- SEEDA's flagship housing project situated on the former naval dockyard;
  
  
• Ingress Park, a new riverside housing development fronting the River Thames, in Greenhithe;
  
  
• Kings Hill development in Tonbridge and Malling, an integrated business and residential community, supported by a balanced mix of sports, leisure, retail and educational facilities set in a 650 acre landscaped environment;
  
  
• Oakwood Hospital, the redevelopment of a listed building which will offer a range of affordable and key worker housing, in Maidstone.

The Committee also visited sites in Ebbsfleet and the Eastern Quarry where new business and residential developments are being built centring around the site of a new international passenger station on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL). The two schemes together will provide some 10,000 new homes and 5.5 million sq ft of commercial space, with a new commercial centre at Ebbsfleet. The new developments could potentially create over 20,000 new jobs.

Cllr Keith Mitchell, Chairman of the Regional Planning Committee said: "Affordable housing is one of the key regional issues which concerns the Assembly. Over the last eighteen months, we have done a great deal to galvanise Government's attention to this issue, identify more clearly the key issues hindering delivery and identify the actions required to overcome these problems.

"The Assembly, along with other regional partners, is beginning to put together a new Regional Housing Strategy for the South East. This tour was an excellent way for us to see first hand the problems which our region is facing. The sites which we saw today are impressive examples of how housing development can be attractive, successfully integrated with other services and make good use of available land."

Contact

Lesley van Dijk, PR Executive - 01483 555223

Alex Butlin, PR Executive - 01483 555221

Notes to editors:

1. The Regional Assembly is the “voluntary regional chamber” for the South East. It was established in January 1999 to give a representative voice to the South East region which covers Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East and West Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, and Surrey.
2. The Assembly is made up of 111 members including elected councillors nominated by the region’s local authorities and 37 representatives from other sectors of the community (including business, trades unions, education, housing, health, sports, culture, tourism, faith groups, environmental, community and voluntary organisations).
3. The Assembly has three areas of core business:
1. It is the representative voice of the South East, engaging and representing its member organisations and, through them, the wider public.
2. The Assembly has a specific role under the Regional Development Agencies' Act 1998 to ensure the accountability of the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) to the region.
3. The Assembly has been the Regional Planning Body for the South East since April 2001. It has responsibility for proposing strategic planning and transport policies to Government.

Last updated: 21 August 2007