 The Bridge development lies in the shadow of the Dartford Crossing |
Work is beginning on a �400m project in the Thames Gateway development area, billed as a "thriving new community" providing thousands of homes and jobs. Called The Bridge, the 264-acre (1.07 sq/km) site is close to the M25 River Thames crossing at Dartford, in Kent.
Brownfield land is being transformed with housebuilding, industrial and office schemes, a school, a shopping complex and recreation areas.
The Bridge will be linked to Kent Thameside's Fastrack transport system.
Buses on the new public transport scheme - which connects Dartford, Bluewater, Greenhithe and Gravesend in north Kent - began running on Sunday.
New jobs
Other routes will be developed in the Kent Thameside area with a connection to Channel Tunnel Rail Link services via Ebbsfleet station.
Housing Minister Yvette Cooper and Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman toured the Fastrack route on Thursday, while also officially launching The Bridge building project.
 Routes are planned around Kent Thameside over the next decade |
The community will have 1,500 new homes and up to 7,500 jobs on offer.
A third of the site will be kept aside for landscaped open space which will include a wildlife park and two reclaimed lakes.
The Thames Gateway area - stretching for 40 miles from east and south-east London to parts of Kent and Essex - could see 120,000 new homes plus infrastructure facilities built over the next decade.
Young people in north Kent have recently been asked how they would like to see the Thames Gateway being developed, with answers varying from less litter to countryside protection to designated graffiti areas.
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