THURROCK Thames Gateway Development Corporation has dipped into its purse to spend' another £6million on land already owned by taxpayers.

In December the government-instigated authority charged with coming up with a blueprint for Thurrock's regeneration, paid £2m for Grays TA headquarters, owned by the government through Defence Estates.

Now it has announced the purchase of an 11 acre former industrial estate in Purfleet from government quango, the East of England Development Agency.

As part of its regeneration plan for the town the Corporation says land off Botany Way will be a mixed use development comprising 900 homes and 12.2 hectares of commercial, retail and community infrastructure, including a new primary school.

Borough MP Andrew Mackinlay, who is the past has complained about the inertia of quangos involved in the revelopment of Thurrock, says he hopes the initiaive will spur on change.

Rather than pick fault with the bureaucracy of interdepartmental cash transactions he tried to emphasise the positive.

"Clearly there has to be public accountability for land transactions and while I can recognise some people might have concern about seemingly buying things that the public already owns, I suspect it is just accounting procedure," he said.

"What is good news is that at last things appear to be getting moving after all the disappointment of recent years when very little has happened. Perhaps they are starting to listen to me and the public now. I just wish they had listened a lot earlier."

Earlier this week Mr Mackinlay once again raised the subject of Thurrock's regeneration in the Commons, questioning what Judith Armitt, the Thames Gateway chief executive who recently resigned, had done for the borough.

His persistence in questioning Communities and Local Government Minister Yvette Cooper led to the revelation that in Mrs Armitt's tenure in office from November 2006 to 2007, the former Medway Council chief executive left her London office to visit the borough just ten times.

Mr Mackinlay, who had welcomed Mrs Armitt's departure, said he hopes he will see more active involvement in Thurrock from now on and he sensed a sea change' in the government's attitude.

"I sense things are beginning to move and that at last the minister in charge has recognised the need for action rather than just lumbering the region with layer upon layer of talking shops."