SIR Terry Farrell's plan for the mouth of the Thames involves artificial islands, a road bridge stretching five miles from Shoebury to Kent, and a new town in the middle of the Thames Estuary.

Others have conjured up similar schemes in the past, often on the backs of envelopes in the pub after a council meeting.

The difference this time is the fact Terry Farrell has put his name and reputation to it.

The Farrell brand is a bit like the Branson name in other fields.

He knows how to use his contact book to cut through hurdles and make things happen.

Farrell creates impressive buildings, as anyone who has seen his Hull aquarium, the Deep, will recognise. He also makes lots of them.

His portfolio of buildings that have actually seen the light of day, rather than being stuck on the drawing board, is stronger than most practices.

With Farrell at the head of this scheme, the City moneymen and construction industry are liable to fall into line.

The core question then, is not can it happen, but do we really want it?

Farrell, of course, says yes. He makes his scheme thoroughly desirable, as well as practical.

He cleverly pitches it on the basis of flood protection and green energy, two of the most urgent issues facing us. And he has given it a green rather than an urban name - the New Thames National Park.

By building houses on artificial islands, he would draw off some of the pressure on the green belt.

Yet he also falls into the trap of treating the estuary as a dead zone, the marine equivalent of wasteland. It is nothing of the sort.