Down by the River Thames, a failure to build holds back Britain’s growth

A view of unused land and early stages of construction work beside the River Thames in Purfleet-on-Thames, east London, on Oct. 14 | REUTERS

REUTERS

Oct 28, 2026

PURFLEET-ON-THAMES, ENGLAND – Near the marshes east of London, a £1 billion ($1.3 billion) redevelopment plan remains in limbo 17 years after it was first announced, an example of how rising U.K. building costs are adding to finance minister John Healey’s growth challenge in this week’s budget.

Local officials still have high hopes for the rebuilding of Purfleet-on-Thames, a popular riverside destination for day-trippers in the Victorian age and a hub of industry in the 20th century before most of the factories closed.

But of about 3,000 planned new homes, only 34 have been built after the original developers failed to persuade investors that the financial numbers made sense.

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