ImagesBrighton pictures of the week 30-1-2006

IMAGESBRIGHTON photography by david gray
	M E D W A Y, K E N T, J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 6
	P I C T U R E S O F T H E W E E K 3 0 - 1 - 2 0 0 6

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This week's pictures come from the district of Medway in Kent. On the southern side of the Thames Estuary, this is an area rich in history and yet, by comparison with most of the rest of the South East, is currently poor and deprived. The huge Thames Gateway plan for regeneration along both sides of the Estuary promises development that might improve the situation, but there are serious questions about how the infrastructure of the region will be able to cope. There is fine architecture and a remarkable maritime heritage in towns such as Gravesend, Chatham and Rochester, but a walk around them also shows many derelict buildings and a local economy that is obviously weak. The Thames Estuary can be a melancholy place, especially in January, and it will take more than new housing estates to bring life back to its southern shore.

Mobile home parked by the Thames Estuary at Allhallows on the Isle of Grain (image 2655-26)

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