London Docklands
Uploaded by abow100 on May 07, 2000
"Evaluate the success of the economic, social and physical regeneration of The London Docklands."
In Medieval times development occurred on the Thames, where Romans had once settled. Growth of shipbuilding industry led to the development of this area. The London Docks were built between 1700 and 1921. The reason was to ease congestion on the Thames between ships, and the lock gates helped to control the water level in the river. Security was also improved within the docks because of the high walls around the dock basins. The Eastend of London developed around the Docks. At the docks hay day London was at the centre of world trade.
However in 1967 the docks started to decline, a number of reasons were to cause the downfall to one of the worlds greatest trading ports. The docks were not designed for the size of the more modern ships, not been wide enough or deep enough to allow the ships in. The newer container ships could not be catered for in the docks. This meant that competition was starting to arise form other ports around the British Isles, mainly Tilbury and Antwerp. These newer ports offered a facility to handle containers, with the efficiency of a roll on/roll off system. With the competition a problem, the London Docks now had to battle through the decline of traditional trade that was associated with Europe and the docks. Adding to the problems, traditional industries in Britain were declining all the time. The docks in effect were been suffocated from of trade. After years of decline, the docks became too expensive to run, with the lack of trade and inefficiency of loading and unloading. By 1981, all the docks along the Thames were closed, with the exception of the new Tilbury dock. As the area gradually started to run down, the local authorities and government realised that some kind of redevelopment had to take place.
Regeneration of the area had begun in places since the end of the war in 1946, due to the extensive bomb damage the area had suffered. Other projects also went ahead before the docks totally closed. The “Greater London Development Plan” and “Inner Urban Area Act” were carried out in the 60’s and 70’s. However, these projects were never deemed a success, as the majority of the docks were still run down. In addition, those that were regenerated were not popular because of...