There are many economic costs involved with the redevelopment of Coin Street, including the inevitable house price increase as the area has become more desirable to live in. This has been combated by the CSCB which has created four housing co-operatives, which are made for low-income households living within the Lambeth and Southwark Council areas. There are currently 220 homes in the four co-operative schemes. As the CSCB does not sell the houses for what they could, it might also be said that they are losing profit which they could gain from selling the houses to middle and high income households.
Other costs include the £250,000 that the CSCB has to spend every year in maintaining the River Thames Walkway and the Bernie Spain Gardens, a park which has spectacular views of the Thames and St. Paul’s Cathedral.
To pay for all the costs involved with the redevelopment of Coin Street the CSCB has had used derelict land to form a car park, which is in an extremely desirable location for both tourists and office commuters, wishing to park their cars in the centre of the city, and willing to pay highly to do so.
As well as economic consequences of the Coin Street redevelopment there are many social benefits. These include housing for the local community. Unlike many other re-urbanized areas in the UK, Coin Street has been redeveloped “by the people for the people”. The consequences of this are housing for the local community, including the elderly and the disabled. It has also been designed with children in mind; as a consequence there are many secure and enclosed gardens and parks. Another social benefit of the Coin Street redevelopment is the building of new swimming pools, sport centres and a dance studio, which will lead to an increase in talent and skill within the community, and will also benefit peoples health and fitness levels. Other social consequences include the re-establishment of the local community, which had been degrading in the past due to large numbers of offices, commercial sectors and industry taking up land and splitting the area into two.
As well as benefits there are also social costs involved. These include the creation and constant maintenance of the local leisure facilities. Also as previously mentioned, the houses are used to accommodate low-income families, instead of high or middle income families, to prevent splitting the community. This is a big social cost, as CSCB can not gain back as much money from renting houses out to low-income families, as they could selling their houses to middle and high income families.
As well as social and economic benefits there are also environmental benefits from the redevelopment of Coin Street. These include the new park and green areas of land which create habitats for flora and fauna to inhabit and reproduce safely in. There is also the new Thames walkway which has made it safer for people to walk along the Thames without ruining the river bank, or destroying local wildlife that live along the banks.
Other benefits include the removal of unsafe derelict buildings and factories, which could cause harm to the local environment and community. There is also a new bus system with 11 new state of the art buses which help reduce traffic and air pollution in the local area.
There are also many costs involved, including traffic pollution and congestion. There is also the consequence that more people living in an area means that more rubbish will need to be disposed off. This will cost money to pay a refuse company to remove it. There is also sewerage pipes and drainage systems which will have to be initialized to remove the sewage and excess rainwater which cannot infiltrate through the concrete fields of London.
As more people live and work in the area traffic congestion leads the rebuilding and redesigning of roads, costing the local councils yet more money.
Continued on Next Page….
Conclusion
Coin Street has greatly benefited the local community and commercial sector with a great number of positive consequences, including the increased fitness and health of the local population, the re-establishment of the community and the introduction of less skilled jobs. There are also other benefits to the community including the improvements in security to children’s play areas and housing for the low-income, elderly and disabled living in the local area. Unfortunately there are also a few negative consequences of re-urbanization, these include the increase in houses prices, as the area has become desirable to live in again and the £250,000 needed every year to continue to maintain the parks and walkways around Coin Street. Inevitably as business and industry starts to move into an area, and it become more developed, traffic will increase leading to air pollution and traffic congestion. CSCB has tried to combat this with the introduction of a bus system, but this is one of the few consequences which will progressively get worse as the area becomes more desirable, unless something is done about it, such is the introduction of a park-and-ride scheme such as in Oxford, or an improved rail service to the area.
