THE man behind ambitious, £800million proposals to regenerate Purfleet said he, and his team, were fully committed to seeing the project through.

Sir Tim Laurence, the husband of Princess Anne and chairman of project management company Capita Symonds, spoke at the meeting which saw the council formally back the plans.

The “Yellow Consortium”, made up of construction firm Keltbray and experts Regeneration Investments, plans to build an enormous TV and film studio complex, new primary school and hotel while carrying out a revamp of the waterfront, Purfleet rail station and level crossing.

A new town centre and 2,300 homes could be built as part of the proposals, too.

After reading in the Thurrock Gazette how residents were sceptical about the proposals, John Kent, leader of Thurrock Council, challenged the consortium to show “commitment”.

So Sir Laurence told the meeting: “What we bring is belief that there is a fantastic future for Purfleet.

"We bring passion for what we know we can achieve here, and we bring commitment to deliver this, to see it through.” Sir Tim said he and his team were keen to crack on.

He said: “We’re now impatient. We want to engage more deeply with the residents. We want to hear from those who live here, the people who work here, from local businesses, we want to develop ideas for the scheme.

"We’ve put a lot of ideas in but we want to hear what they want to happen too.”