THE cost of creating Kent Thameside, and regenerating Medway and Swale, has been put at a staggering £10 billion by the man heading the project.

The figures have been revealed by Marc Hume, chief executive of the Thames Gateway Kent Partnership. He told councillors at the Kent Thameside Executive: “We have not completed the analysis of the funding requirements, but all the indications are that it is going to cost in the region of £500 million per annum for the next 20 years.”

Mr Hume told the Executive - made up of members from the county, Dartford and Gravesham borough councils - that more than 70 organisations were now actively involved in the project.

They agreed that Kent Thameside will bring major growth to relieve development pressure on London and other parts of the South East. Among other objectives being set for Thames Gateway Kent will be the creation of a “cutting edge economy”.

A key target of the new community will be turning round the image of north Kent. It would become, Mr Hume said, “a place of inspiring opportunities”. Across the Thames Gateway area as far as Sittingbourne and Sheerness there will be major transport investment.

This includes the Fastrack bus network in Kent Thameside, the Medway Transit tramway system, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, North Kent Metro Line upgrading to Gravesend, and Thameslink 2000 service plans as far as Dartford.

The creation of a Medway University, the formation of a Chatham City Centre, protecting north Kent’s marshes and providing further funds for primary care in north Kent will also need massive investments.

Mr Hume said the final costs would be revealed in April when the North Kent Area Investment Framework is published. “This is all about levering new money into north Kent,” he stressed.

The money to revive the flagging fortunes of north Kent will come from a variety of sources. It includes private investors, landowners, government and local authorities.

It will be spent on creating transport services, new homes, businesses, schools and the remainder of the infrastructure needed to reshape Dartford, Gravesend, Medway and Swale.

When it is finished the money will have created around 80,000 new jobs and upto 45,000 homes. There will be up to 11,250 homes to affordable housing standards - the modern equivalent of council housing.

If the Government plan for London’s fourth airport at Cliffe goes ahead, more jobs - and more investment - will be needed, added Mr Hume.