Pressure on Prescott over homes target

John Prescott was warned today that his ambitious target for new homes in the Thames Gateway may not be achieved.

The Deputy Prime Minister was told planning delays and a weak market threaten his goal of 120,000 homes by 2016.

The criticism came on the day a public inquiry opens into the Thames Gateway Bridge which some experts say could result in surrounding roads becoming gridlocked.

Housebuilder Weston Homes said: "We are being systematically frustrated and blocked at a local planning level, and development in the region is grinding to a halt." Its claim was backed by the Home Builders Federation.

Council chiefs admitted privately the target now looked too high but blamed builders for putting projects on ice due to the slowdown in house prices.

The Government is counting on massive development in east London, Essex and Kent to ease the capital's housing crisis.

A spokeswoman for Mr Prescott's office said he was sticking to his goal but added: "We are aware that targets can be challenging, particularly for major developments."

Weston Homes has eight sites in the Thames Gateway. If its plans were approved they would provide more than 840 homes but all are held up. Chairman Robert Weston claimed his company was suffering because councils and the Government were at loggerheads on issues including housing densities and design. As a result, plans in line with national guidelines were being turned down at a local level.

Mr Weston said the delay in securing permission had trebled in 15 years, with a typical application now taking two years. Many rejects were sent to Mr Prescott on appeal, adding an extra 18 months.

He said: "New Labour rhetoric on the Thames Gateway being the largest regeneration opportunity in Europe is not matching the disappointing reality."

But council chiefs insisted they were providing an adequate flow of planning permissions and accused housebuilders of failing to make use of land on which planning permission had been granted.

Ministers want 60,000 new homes in the Thames Gateway by 2010 as a step towards the main target, with 80 per cent on brownfield land. The Government's 2004 Planning Act, yet to be fully implemented, will streamline the planning process.

Mr Prescott's department said the system had been "reformed and updated" but builders say the changes fall short.

Andrew Whitaker, head of planning at the Home Builders Federation, said the problems were being replicated across London and the South-East.

He said: "The planning process is very, very slow. If it's failing somewhere like the Thames Gateway, which is a flagship project, that's of great concern. A lot of store is being placed on the Government's changes to the planning system but we have yet to see any tangible speeding-up."

Taylor Woodrow, Britain's secondlargest housebuilder, has already called the Government's Thames Gateway plans "over-optimistic" and questioned the capabilities of English Partnerships, the quango that distributes land.

The controversial ?383 million, six-lane bridge connecting Beckton and Thamesmead is backed by Mayor Ken Livingstone. However, Professor Phil Goodwin, from the University of the West of England's Centre for Transport and Society, has said: "The extra traffic encouraged by the bridge means conditions in east London in 2016 will be worse, not better."