THE Government has been warned its house-building plans for parts of Kent risk fuelling social tension and creating French-style ghettos if they are not properly thought out.

An influential task force led by the renowned architect Lord Rogers has issued a devastating indictment of the Government’s masterplan, suggesting the wrong approach now could “saddle generations to come with a legacy of failure.”

Urging the Government to ensure quality came before quantity, Lord Rogers, who chairs the Urban Task Force, said: “Creating ghettos of poorly-designed environments can fuel social tension and exacerbate social conflict as recent events in France have shown.”

Kent faces a huge expansion of house-building over the next 20 years, with both north Kent and Ashford earmarked by the Government as “growth areas.”

Across the south east region, some 29,000 new homes are expected to be built each year across the south east region over the next two decades. In Ashford, the plan is for 31,000 new homes and for 44,000 in the Kent part of the Thames Gateway.

But the task force, which was set up by John Prescott, is withering in its assessment of the Thames Gateway, saying it is being developed in “piecemeal fashion” without vital transport links or enough emphasis on design.

Members also warned that the rush to press for new homes meant many were being poorly designed and that many developments lacked open spaces.

Claiming the Thames Gateway is failing to live up to its potential, the report states: “A trip down the Thames reveals how we are squandering a great opportunity - small scale, low quality,, shoddily built houses stand cheek-by-jowl with oversized structures with no sense of scale, design, character or continuity.”

Former Kent County Council leader Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, who chairs the Kent Thameside Delivery Board which is responsible for overseeing the Government’s blueprint, welcomed the report.

“We have been saying this kind of thing consistently. We are building too many uniform, box-like houses and too few really attractive communities,” he said.

In a statement, the Government said that it was insisting developments were well designed. “We agree that we still have further to go to meet the challenge of continuing the urban renaissance and incorporating design excellence into our living and working environment,” it said.