Recession is not hitting north Kent to judge from the opening hours of the two-day Thames Gateway Forum in London's Docklands.

More millions for the transport and town developments have been promised by Margaret Beckett, the Thames Gateway minister.

Kent's newly-appointed forward architect, Sir Terry Farrell, has called for the five Medway towns - Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham, Strood and Rainham - to become a city, providing the communities approved.

And a massive project to turn large areas on both sides of the Thames estuary into parks has also been unveiled.

The only disappointments were for Medway Council who were told the £73million it has to spend over the next two years on infrastructure does not include the overhead cable car system proposed to link Strood, Rochester, Chatham and Chatham Maritime.

Nor does it include the long-planned theatre complex on Chatham waterfront.

Cllr Rodney Chambers, the council leader and chairman of Medway Renaissance, said the cable car was an aspiration but he believed the cultural complex would eventually get backing from the Government.

Thousands of ministers, developers and builders are meeting in the capital on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the £10billion scheme, which stretches 40 miles from east London into Kent and Essex.

Mrs Beckett believes the country is "in a strong position to weather the financial storm".

Paul Wheeler, editorial director of the Thames Gateway Forum, said: "The Thames Gateway is affected by the economic downturn - but the thing to remember is it is a very long-term undertaking, perhaps of 20 or 30 years.

"Those who know about it have always known it would go through economic ups and downs. What we are experiencing now isn't the end of the world."