PRIME Minister Tony Blair and his deputy John Prescott put their combined political weight behind the regeneration of Kent and Medway by unveiling a £111m package when they visited the county today.

After taking a bird's eye view of the Thames Gateway from a helicopter, the pair came down to earth near Ingress Park, a flagship riverside housing development in Greenhithe, near Dartford.

In front of a display proclaiming "Thames Gateway - Building Communities", Mr Prescott announced a funding package worth around £111m to Kent Thameside, Medway, Sittingbourne/Swale and Ashford.

It was part of a £330m package for projects across the whole Gateway area. The investment is part of a 30-year scheme that will see an extra 60,000 homes and 70,000 jobs across the county.

Mr Prescott said the announcement was all about "making it happen". He said the money would make a real difference to people in the Thames Gateway. "It will be used to clear up brownfield land and build decent homes which people will live in through choice, not necessity," he stressed.

The visit came a couple of hours after a Eurostar reached 208mph mark on the new Channel Tunnel Rail Link, a project that Mr Prescott claimed to have saved in 1999 when the Government agreed to bail out the project.

Mr Blair, who personally chairs a Thames Gateway committee, said it was a unique project. "This is not about cramming as many people as you can on a particular spot.because you have a housing problem," he said.

"It is a long term development of an entire area that is going to lift not just their living standards of people, but actually their vision and their spirits. I'm absolutely delighted to be associated with this, I am so glad we came down and looked at the potential.

"This is enormously exciting when you think how the full area can be regenerated. The reason we have taken it so seriously is that we think this is a project not just for the Thames Gateway but for the whole of the UK."

It was an imaginative partnership project and a "turning point for this part of our country. If that is how it is remembered, it will have been well worth doing."

Medway will receive the lion's share of £46.6m, while £31.7m will go to Kent Thameside, £16.3m to Swale, and £8m to Ashford.

There will also be £4.3m for education projects, and £4.5m for environmental schemes.

Much of the Medway money will pay for site preparation at Rochester Riverside, but some will go towards the University of Medway, providing new schools of urban renaissance, business and pharmacy.

When complete, these projects are expected to lead to 1,800 homes and 1,500 jobs.

Kent Thameside's cash goes to Dartford and Gravesend, helping with riverside development sites. The area will build 25,000 homes and create 35,000 jobs over the next 20 years.

Swale's cash will fund a new relief road, town centre renewal and masterplanning costs.