25 November 2005
The regeneration of the Thames Gateway presents a golden opportunity to rethink how public services are designed and funded, local government and communities minister David Miliband said this week.
Delivering the opening address to the two-day Thames Gateway Forum on November 23, Miliband said: 'We have the chance to redesign public services genuinely for the twenty-first century.'
Miliband suggested that new models of public service could emerge such as community 'hubs' – single centres offering services from early years' education to adult learning and primary care.
The minister added that the 2012 Olympic Games offered the potential to make sporting and cultural activities central to the Thames Gateway's identity.
The forum also heard from David Higgins, chief executive of English Partnerships, who will take charge of the Olympic Delivery Authority in the New Year.
Higgins stressed that the Olympics were important for the whole of the UK. 'The challenge is to capture the growth that will happen over the next seven years and how that can be ploughed back into regeneration.'
Higgins has a proven track record in Olympic delivery, having previously been chief executive of the Lend Lease Group, which constructed the Olympic village for the Sydney Games in 2000.
Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, the former leader of Kent County Council, put out a plea for co-ordinated planning across London, Kent and Essex. 'We need a six-year infrastructure plan, not just for the Games, but for the whole Thames Gateway,' he said.
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