Real cost of the Prescott Gateway

Ambitious plans to build 200,000 homes in the Thames Gateway will need to be supported by hundreds of millions of pounds of new infrastructure, a report said today.

The first detailed analysis of the project reveals a lengthy shopping list, including 300 new primary schools, 50 stations and 10 hospitals.

The Thames Gateway development, which has been put forward by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, involves building along a corridor from east London to the Kent coast at Southend by 2016. It is not yet known how Mr Prescott intends to pay for the scheme, or who will oversee it.

Research by management consultant Hornagold & Hills shows that the new Thames Gateway community will need:

Stan Hornagold said: "Nothing along these lines has ever been attempted before.

"No one has really understood until now just what Thames Gateway will actually mean to London and the rest of the UK. We have pulled together an itemised 'shopping list' to show what is needed, and to finally give people a sense of the sheer scale of this.

"We compiled this analysis because we believe the Government will need to take this into

account and we are not convinced that Mr Prescott is looking at this in quite the right way."

Pierre Williams of the Housebuilders' Federation said Mr Hornagold's list confirmed the builders' worst fears. "Much of the Gateway lacks basic infrastructure which will need to be paid for," he said. "What's needed is for the 'visions' to be backed up with major public investment. If it isn't viable, we can't build the houses."

A spokesman for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister said it was drawing up plans for infrastructure. "We are aware that accelerating the growth areas requires up-front provision of transport, health, education and environment infrastructure alongside growth," he said. "It is our task to put in place mechanisms with local and regional partners, and the private sector, to ensure that we tackle these issues together."

The Thames Gateway project was announced in February 2003 by Mr Prescott, who said 120,000 additional homes would be built there by 2016. That estimate has since been revised and it is thought that the final target for the Gateway will be about 200,000 new homes. So far only 1,000 have been started, all on the Greenwich Peninsula.

The ODPM spokesman added: "A step-change in housing supply is needed across London and the South-East to support economic growth and ensure that local people can afford decent homes.

"But this is not growth at any cost. We will not repeat the suburban sprawl of previous generations."