25 April 2003
Ministers are poised to create the first urban development corporation in ten years in an attempt to help house-building east of London.
Proposals for a UDC in Thurrock, Essex, were published by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on April 16. The UDC, which should come into operation as early as the autumn, is likely to take over planning and compulsory purchase powers from Thurrock District Council, part of the Thames Gateway.
UDCs were created in the 1980s to help urban regeneration. There are 14 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but the last new one was established in Plymouth in 1993.
The Thames Gateway is one of the four housing growth areas identified in the government's Sustainable communities plan. Consultations over a further UDC, for east London, are expected later this year. In total, up to 200,000 new homes are planned in Southeast England by about 2020.
Thurrock council leader Andy Smith welcomed the proposal, saying a UDC would help to bring new homes, jobs and infrastructure to the area. An ODPM spokesman promised that the UDC would work in tandem with the local authority.
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