Home to 1.5million people and with a workforce of 500,000, the
Thames Gateway is a large and diverse area. It includes many older
residential and industrial areas of east and south east London, and runs
out eastwards through two corridors of varied size and character on
both sides of the Thames estuary in North Kent and South Essex.

The Gateway is straddled by three Government regions – London, the
East of England and South East England.

The North Kent part of the Gateway lies within the South East Region.
It covers the area of Medway Council and, within Kent County,
the districts of Swale, Dartford and Gravesham. The latter two districts
together are called Kent Thameside.

The Thames Gateway is both a regional and national priority. Driven
initially by the need to reverse the area’s long-term economic decline,
the great progress of recent years means the Gateway has emerged as
an area of real opportunity.

But beyond this lies the potential for something much more – to create
truly sustainable communities of the future.

This potential was recognised in 2003 through the Government’s
Sustainable Communities Plan, which set out a broad vision for the
Gateway and an extensive programme of investment in infrastructure,
new developments and the regeneration of existing communities.

Building on the substantial progress made since 2003, the Thames
Gateway Strategic Framework establishes the context for more
detailed delivery programmes and action plans at sub-regional and
local levels for the next 5 to 10 years.

These strategic and local frameworks have also been designed to mesh
with a range of key planning and economic development policies
in the South East Region that reinforce the Gateway’s priority. These
include, for example -

• The South East Plan (South East England Regional Assembly)
• Regional Economic Strategy (SEEDA, the South East England Development Agency)
• Medway Economic Development Statement (Medway Council)
• Kent Prospects (Kent County Council).