Public money was used in the development of the infrastructure, such as main road access, or the Docklands light railway. Private money was invested after the resale of redeveloped land or buildings.
The Docklands area lies geographically within the boroughs of Newham, Tower Hamlets and Southwark. The councils still retain all of their responsibilities except within the redevelopment areas. The LDDC decides on planning applications after consultation with the borough council in question, and other people affected by the proposed developments.
The LDDC also built major roads in the area, including the Limehouse Link tunnel.
Within the Docklands area, the councils are responsible for housing, other highways, education, the council tax and local services within the area.
The LDDC is primarily answerable to the government- To the Department of Environment (DoE). The LDDC has to submit an annual report, including its accounts to the DoE. An annual corporate plan, detailing future plans is also submitted.
The LDDC can be questioned in parliament by MP’s, and is also subject to the National Audit Office and the parliamentary ombudsman.
Achievements of the LDDC:
(All claimed by a publication published by the LDDC)
Physical regeneration
- 879 hectares(2,173 acres) of urban development land and water acquired
- 728 hectares(1800 acres) of derelict land reclaimed within the urban development area
- 135.5kms(84 miles) of new or improved roads and DLR. £959 million has been invested in access (excluding the jubilee line extension)
- Improved public transport system. Docklands Light Railway carrying up to 321,000 passengers per week. More than 550,000 passengers in the last year used London City Airport, with 13 airlines flying to 18 European and UK destinations.
Economic Regeneration
- £1,744 billion public sector investment
- £6,277 billion private sector investment
- 2’28 million sq metres (24.57 million sq feet) of commercial and industrial space completed, including 1.37 million sq metres (14.7 million sq ft) of offices
- First phase of Canary Wharf, with approximately 418,050 net square metres of office space completed
- Businesses more than doubled from 1000 in 1982 to 2400
- Employment increased by 157% from 27,200 in 1981 to 70,000(66,700 in 1995)
Building new communities
- 19,844 new homes completed
- Privately owned housing increased from 5% to 40%
- £178 million expenditure on new and replacement housing for local residents
- 7,900 local authority homes refurbished or improved
- 95% population growth from 39,400 to 77,000 (68,000 in 1995)
- Increasing variety of new shopping facilities. Almost 50 retail units let at Canary Wharf, including Tesco Metro, Tesco, Surrey Quays Shopping Centre; Asda, Beckton and Isle Of Dogs; Savacentre, Beckton; Kwiksave, Beckton and Wapping; Safeway
- £116 million expenditure on education, training, support for industry, health and community programmes, amenities and environment
- Contributions to 11 new primary schools and a new secondary school, Bacon’s college, Rotherhithe
- Contributions to post-16 colleges in each of the Docklands three boroughs and nine vocational training centres
- Five new health centres built and six redeveloped
- More than 430 community groups and voluntary groups have received funds
- Extensive events, arts and watersports programmes
- More than 160,000 trees planted, 18 conservation areas designated and more than 500 listed buildings
- 75 awards for landscape, architecture and conservation
Problems created by the LDDC
- The locals are not trained enough and do not have sufficient qualifications to do the office based, well paid work
- Local people often do the service type jobs such as cleaning, these are usually very low-paid jobs
- National and international companies often bring their existing workforce with them to the Docklands
- The raise in house and flat prices has made the area too expensive for the local people to afford
- The LDDC lies outside the process of democratically elected government and its policies have often been at variance with those of the adjacent London boroughs that it replaced as a planning authority
- The LDDC is under no obligation to put the needs of the indigenous local community first. It has been tasked by the government to secure the regeneration of the area through attracting new investment. It sees the Docklands as being of metropolitan, national and international importance and considers it inevitable that the national interest will sometimes be at variance with the interests of the local communities. The reasons for local opposition were summarised in an article in “The Times” newspaper: ‘ Local people believe, with some justification, that their needs and wishes are being ignored, that they have little place in the new office buildings and hi-tech industrial estates which are supplanting the old factories and warehouses and that they will be unable to compete in the housing market with the new generation of so-called yuppies and whizz-kids who are being offered company flats and huge low interest mortgages to enable them to live closer to the city’
“The Times”- 19 February 1987
- Competition between designers and developers resulted, not in an orderly reconstruction of a wonderful watery peninsula, but a Los Angeles-like pattern of bulky glass office towers in a cityscape of parking areas, housing sites and low-rise factory units.
- Without a strong network of streets, parks and squares tying together the different major projects, the Isle Of Dogs quickly matured into a chaotic cityscape.
- A social divide is evident, sometimes only separated by a single wall or security fence.
Alternatives to the Docklands and its future
Companies could have been forced to employ a certain percentage of the local community. One pitfall of this is that companies that have relocated in the Docklands will have to lose existing workers in place of the locals.
Three main actions are needed to sustain the Docklands for the future. The Isle Of Dogs does not connect with the millennium dome; Wapping and Surrey Quays are separate enclaves; the Royal Docks lack infrastructure integration; the Hawksmoor churches are not in play. Bridges are needed, perhaps islands in the Thames as well, and parks are needed to form a green necklace along the waterside. Action is needed to create an infrastructure of support for the communities in Docklands. This involves public investment in transport, healthcare, education and recreation. There are private health and sports clubs, many dual carriageways, but few trains, cycle ways or doctor’s surgeries. Even if you privatise public space as the LDDC did you cannot avoid public amenity.
A Docklands university is being built, but there is still no Docklands hospital.
Bibliography
Thanks go to the following sources for their useful information that helped to compile this report:
-
Rudi Herts’ WebPages-
- LDDC information leaflet
- ‘The geography of settlement’-by Peter Daniel and Michael Hopkinson