The Thames Gateway has become part of the political language of Kent and Essex over the past 17 years.

It’s not surprising. Billions of pounds has been pumped into the area east of London. The plan - to turn largely derelict land as far as the Thames Estuary into improved townships.

Homes, employment and transport are intended to provide a commercial revolution for the 21st century.

Medway Council - a unitary authority - has set up a subsidiary called Medway Renaissance, which is in charge of the transformation for this end of the regeneration project.

It is turning the five Medway Towns - Rochester, Strood, Chatham, Gillingham and Rainham - into a modern city at the centre of the Gateway.

The Thames Gateway project was first conceived in the latter days of Margaret Thatcher’s government, launched by John Major’s government, and adopted by successive Labour governments.

It is not a five minute transformation.

It will take an estimated 30 more years for the changes to be completed.

One plan actively being pursued is to provide a cable car system above Medway’s streets to ferry people around the area, and avoid building another Medway river crossing.

Already the signs of change are there.

Medway is the largest conurbation in the South East outside of London. Yet under the Gateway plans the population is set to grow by 50,000 to a third of a million.

It is a massive commitment by the communities, the council and the government. The big question is - Will it be the success everyone hopes, or fizzle out like the new towns of the 1960s?