John Prescott and Tony Blair visited a Greenhithe housing estate

In a visit to Greenhithe, near Dartford, on Wednesday the prime minister and deputy prime minister said more than �1bn would be spent in the Thames Gateway and other areas.

The Medway Towns have benefited the most from the government money.

Some �46m is to be invested into the Rochester Riverside Project which will include a new University of Medway.

Sittingbourne and Sheppey are due to receive �16.3m for 2,500 houses and almost 6,000 jobs.

It is extremely good news for Kent Howard Stoate, MP

Ashford has been allocated �8m for more than 30,000 homes and 28,000 jobs.

And over �31m has been earmarked for the Dartford and Gravesend area with the aim of creating 25,000 homes and 35,000 jobs.

Howard Stoate, MP for Dartford, said: "It is extremely good news for Kent and very good news for north west Kent in particular.

"We have a very large number of old factory sites which currently need regenerating.

'Building decent homes'

"The regeneration costs a huge amount of money to bring land back into use, to lay on services and clean up contamination.

"This is very welcome news because the government is prepared to invest in the area and put the money in needed to invest to improve transport links to improve the infrastructure in the area so people can come in and invest and really start to make the area take off."

Talking about the money given to Ashford, Mr Prescott, said: "This investment will help create the right conditions for sustainable development in Ashford, securing its strategic location as Gateway to Europe.

"Successful development means building decent homes in communities that will stand the test of time."