As the South Essex region moves towards a successful, thriving and innovative future, MARY SPENCE, chief executive of the Thames Gateway South Essex Partnership, reviews the past 12 months and looks to the year ahead.

It has been a busy and rewarding year for the Thames Gateway South Essex area, with many of our priority projects getting closer to happening.

None of them would have been achieved without a lot of hard work, but they were made possible through the co-operation and commitment of all of our partners, which include local authorities and voluntary organisations such as RSPB.

Some of our joint successes will be familiar to you through the pages of the Echo, such as the official opening of the new University of Essex campus building in Southend, and plans announced by the Royal Opera House to move its production facilities to Purfleet. Both of these initiatives will boost our cultural image in the outside world.

In one of the other areas that concern many of us, transport, we put concerted pressure on the government, including strong support from our local MPs, and were pleased to see the Department for Transport confirm that it will support the regional funding priority for the £63m rebuilding of the Sadlers Farm roundabout where the A13 meets the A130.

The partnership's transport board also unveiled South Essex Rapid Transit, more commonly known as SERT, which will become the public transport of the future for the area.

The next 12 months promise to be equally exciting. After years of discussion and analysis, we finally expect to hear the news that Dubai Ports World will be able to develop Shell Haven, creating one of the largest ports in the UK and a high-value business park, putting south Essex on the global map.

Despite concerns about the potential impact on local roads, the developers will contribute substantially to improving the A13 and the junction with the M25, as well as creating over 12,000 new jobs.

We can also be sure that the decision has not been taken without a great deal of care over the wider impact, which is one of the reasons it has taken so long to decide.

Work is due to start on a new health centre on Canvey Island, the first of a series of new investments planned for the south east Essex area.

There are plans for a major investment in the 125-acre Wat Tyler Country Park, which have been developed over the past few years, and again we hope to hear about progress on this during 2007.

In Southend, the airport is set to continue to expand, with new training opportunities set up on site as part of the East of England Development Agency's newly announced £15 million funding for training, which will be spread across the region to boost the jobs and skills market.

We are now beginning to see the results of the last five years of hard work, and the Partnership will continue championing the area to politicians, decision makers and investors as a great place to be, where people come alive, celebrating the region as a great place to live and work.

This year we will be inviting everyone who lives, works and invests in the area to join in a campaign to sell the best of south Essex to the world.

Our focus for the next year or so will be to increase investment coming into the economy; bring new funding in to improve our schools and colleges; and continue to support the development of the cultural life of the area, linking where possible into the opportunities offered by the 2012 Olympics.

In March, we will be heading to the major international conference in Cannes, France, known as MIPIM - billed as the world's property market, which will be full of international property developers and investors.

Almost 20,000 of the world's biggest investors home in on the convention centre during this cold season, when no holiday makers are around taking up space in the local hotels, and spend the week looking at where they can next invest.

We attend as part of the Thames Gateway team effort, with colleagues from London and Kent, based with the major London stand, alongside Manchester, Barcelona, and many of Europe's largest cities. It is one of the many ways the Partnership can ensure it maintains the pressure to attract money from private investors.

In Thurrock, Basildon and Southend, the local new regeneration organisations are developing major plans for revitalising our town centres, bringing life back into some and enabling others to capitalise on their existing success.

We have always said there are no quick fixes. Our challenges are huge, and we are in it for the long haul. But we are now making progress. As our motto runs: "On London's doorstep, playing a significant role in the UK's economic powerhouse, Thames Gateway South Essex is vibrant, bursting with pride and alive with opportunities."

Study shows areas at risk from flooding

A study that provides a major key to Thames Gateway development within Essex has been launched for public viewing.

The Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA) represents the most exhaustive and technically exact study ever undertaken of flooding from the Thames Estuary and its likely effects. Happily the floods in this particular survey were digital ones.

The report, which can be consulted online, was commissioned by the Thames Gateway Partnership at the request of five Essex local authorities- Thurrock, Basildon, Castle Point, Southend, and Rochford.

The five cover the areas that would be affected by major flooding. All English councils have been instructed by the government to undertake such assessments.

Commissioned by the Partnership, the SFRA was prepared by the civil engineering firm and flood control specialist Scott Wilson. The project was independently managed by a third party, Nick Broomfield, on secondment from the Environment Agency (EA).

The survey made use of state of the art technology capable of mapping out the precise speed and flow of water from specific breaches in the flood defences.

The project team analysed the effect of 34 potential breach sites in! the sea defences along the length of the south Essex coast.

Mary Spence, chief-executive Thames Gateway, emphasised that the plan was not a policy document.

"It does not advocate change or create policy," she said. "What it does represent is a valuable advisory document that can be consulted by local authorities in developing their planning framework. It will help them to consider the best locations for development in the context of potential flood risk, and those areas which should not be developed."

Areas that would be worst affected by flooding are marked in red on the SFRA map. Any developer who seeks to build in these areas will have to take responsibility for extra flood protection measures covering their chosen site.

The survey does not evaluate the effect of flooding on individual existing properties. Nor is it likely to effect the current policies of insurance companies, whose premiums are based on existing flood prediction data from the EA.

The study can be viewed online at tgessex.co.uk/SFRA