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- Parks and public gardens to be at the heart of the Thames Gateway
Parks and public gardens to be at the heart of the Thames Gateway
| Published | 15 May 2008 |
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An £35 million funding pot is today being made available for new schemes that will create parklands, town squares and riverside pathways in the Thames Gateway, announced Housing and Planning Minister Caroline Flint.
Schemes that focus on green space, open space and heritage related projects could be in line to receive a share of £30 million funding to make their proposals a reality in London, Kent and Essex.
A further £5 million is being made available to fund studies and scope out opportunities for further green and open spaces in the Gateway.
Thames Gateway Parklands Design Champion Terry Farrell is advising the Government on how best to ensure green and outdoor spaces are part of all communities in the Gateway.
Housing and Planning Minister Caroline Flint said:
"Experience has shown the huge difference living and working in a green environment can make to the quality of people's lives so it's essential we make sure from the outset that outdoor space is a key feature of all communities.
"Having someone of Terry Farrell's calibre onboard shows just how important we take greening the Gateway, and inviting bids for the £35m parklands programme is one of the first steps at making this happen."
Thames Gateway Parklands Design Champion Terry Farrell said:
"This immense and exciting regeneration project is already well underway and gathering momentum through the conscientious work of many local organisations - both public and private.
"In my advisory capacity as Design Champion for Thames Gateway Parklands, I will be helping Communities and Local Government to ensure that proposals meet high ambitions for the Thames Gateway. This represents major opportunities for the partners to help create a landscape legacy that they and local people can be proud of."
Greening the Gateway and ensuring all communities have access to outside space will be a guiding principle for development and three partnership bodies, known as Green Grids, have now been invited to bid for funding under the Thames Gateway Parkland programme.
Notes of editors
1. The aims of the Thames Gateway Parklands Programme over the next three years were set out in the Delivery Plan at the end of last year. These are:
- Thames Gateway Landscapes - We will identify and fund two parks of regional importance to ensure a further 600 hectares of green space.
- Thames Waterfront - We will start to create a new estuary path to run along both banks of the river.
- Thames Gateway Squares - We will work with partners to identify and start work on two or three large squares. Experience of successful overseas regeneration projects shows the importance of town squares for community identity.
- Thames Gateway World Class Heritage - We will help finance the UNESCO bid for world heritage site status for Chatham Historic Dockyard.
2. Terry Farrell is an award-winning architect and urban designer and has worked on high profile building schemes and master plans in cities such as Seattle, Hong Kong, Lisbon, Dubai, London and Seoul.
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