Tim Donovan Political Editor BBC London

The area is earmarked for 120,000 new homes and 180,000 new jobs

The next wave of house building is underway on a Medway site that is set to house more than 5,000 people.

St Mary's Island at Chatham Maritime already has 900 homes with 1,100 more planned.

The riverside site is being developed as a flagship Thames Gateway project by the regional assembly.

Homes being built this year include 51 houses and 11 apartments - 25% of those are affordable housing for key workers.

The region is set to see massive house building in the next 20 years and as many as 578,000 new homes could be built across the South East by 2026.

Nearly �50m has been allocated by the government to improve transport links to boost house building in north London and the Thames Gateway.

The 21 schemes include new roads, junctions and bridges, road widening, and landscaping projects.

A new DLR station will be built in Langdon Park in Tower Hamlets, east London, at a cost of �5.7m.

The funding follows a review of housing supply which said infrastructure needed to keep up with the pace of building.

London Mayor suspended

London's mayor has been suspended from office for four weeks for comparing a Jewish journalist to a concentration camp guard.

The Adjudication Panel for England ruled Ken Livingstone had brought his office into disrepute when he acted in an "unnecessarily insensitive" manner.

The ban is due to begin on 1 March and the mayor's deputy Nicky Gavron will stand in for Mr Livingstone.

More on the Politics Show with Tim Donovan.

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