Thames Gateway

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The Thames Gateway is an area of land stretching from East London, 40 miles eastwards towards the estuary of the Thames, including parts of North Kent and South Essex, which has been identified as a national priority for urban regeneration. From its westernmost point at Westferry, on the Isle of Dogs Peninsula, it runs either side of the river through the East London Docklands to Tilbury in Essex and Sittingbourne in Kent. A map of the area is shown here.


Contents

Scope

It comprises parts of the 15 different Local Authority areas of the London Boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Newham, Barking & Dagenham, Havering, Lewisham, Greenwich and Bexley, the Kent districts of Dartford, Gravesham, Medway and Swale as well as the Essex districts of Thurrock, Basildon, Castle Point and Southend-on-Sea, and is home to around 1.6 million people.

The Thames Gateway contains some of the most deprived wards in the country and is characterised by low educational ambition and attainment. Its boundary was drawn to capture the riverside strip that formerly hosted many land extensive industries, serving London and the South East, whose decline has left a legacy of large scale dereliction & contaminated land. This reservoir of brownfield land has been recognised by successive Governments and planners alike as having huge potential to act as a catalyst for the regeneration and growth and for the social advancement of the area, helping to alleviate some of the growth pressures on London and the South East and providing greater stability to the UK housing market and wider economy.

The Thames Gateway regeneration project is recognised as being the largest regeneration project in Europe. It covers 5 key strategic areas of development:

Further zones of development outside the London Gateway include the Medway towns (Strood, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham), the Grain peninsula and Sittingbourne and Swale in Kent, plus Basildon, Canvey Island and Southend-on-Sea in Essex.

The task of co-ordinating the development of the Thames Gateway is organised under the auspices of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which implements Government policy as set by MISC 22, a cabinet committee chaired by the Prime Minister. Development will be largely delivered by the three Regional Development Agencies concerned: (LDA) London Development Agency, (EEDA) the East of England Development Agency and the (SEEDA) South East England Development Agency, as well as the national regeneration agency, English Partnerships. The Thames Gateway project aims to improve the economy of the region through the development of existing brownfield land, utilising major transport infrastructure provision, and through the renaissance of existing urban conurbations. Comparisons may be drawn with developments east of Paris along the Marne valley, but here a much greater land space is available.

Development to date

In 1987 the World Commission on Environment and Development defined Sustainable Development as 'development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'. Opponents of development have argued that promoting the ecological significance of the area by increasing public accessibility to threatened marshes and wetlands, with improved transport corridors, will cause further erosion.

Before 2003 most conspicuous development was situated west of Beckton, although housing schemes at Chafford Hundred, Chatham and Greenhithe have been substantial, and there is a large shopping centre at Bluewater.

Future developments

The Channel Tunnel Rail Link, phase II of which is currently under construction, runs through the designated development area, crossing under the Thames near Dartford with an international railway station proposed at Ebbsfleet in Kent, and a second at Stratford in East London. This venture will shave 15 minutes of the journey time from London to Paris, and has to date exhausted nominated funding agreements several times, costing the nation billions in excess of the proposed amount.

On the Essex side of the Thames, at Southend-on-Sea the council is using money provided through the scheme to redevelop the town centre and seafront and create a "transport corridor" along the A13.

Proposals for an international nautical freight service, requiring the removal of much of the Thames marshes at Cliffe, were dropped in 2003. However, a different proposal for a container port, to be called "London Gateway", on the Essex side of the Thames, on the site of the former Shell Haven oil refinery, looks likely to be approved. [1]. As a redevelopment of an exisiting industrial site, there is less of a detrimental environmental impact. The proposal includes plans for a large insdustrial and business park in the area.

Transport for London is currently proposing a bridge between Beckton and Greenwich to be called the Thames Gateway Bridge. Along with the extensions of the Docklands Light Railway across the river to Woolwich, this will improve links between to two sides of the river and it is hoped this help spur economic growth and reduce the stress on existing road transport links.

During public consultation, 85% of respondents given the opportunity to air an opinion were in favour of the proposed bridge. However 74% supported keeping the Woolwich Ferry open "in some form". (Source: TFL Board paper on the bridge)

While the volume of traffic using the Ferry would diminish with a new bridge open, no decisions on the future of this traditional resource have been made, except that usage and viability of the Ferry will be reviewed after the TGB opens.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in his July 2004 spending review, that there would be money made available for extensive house building on brownfield sites in the region in order to ease the high demand for affordable housing in the South East.

Plans for a Lower Thames Crossing between Canvey or Shell Haven and the Hoo peninsula were shelved as they were dependent upon the creation of Cliffe Airport.

The disused railway lands around Stratford are being redeveloped by the Stratford City project and will also form part of the Olympic Park for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Environmental concerns

Significant concerns have been raised that development of this area will damage the North Kent Marshes which are recognised as an Environmentally Sensitive Area, by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Proposals for a large international airport on Cliffe Marshes were dropped from the government's white paper on air transport in 2003 after they were rejected by local residents, the local council, as well as conservation charities such as the RSPB. However there is a judicial review underway looking at other options for airport expansion including the possibility of a floating airport off the Isle of Sheppey. BBC News report.

The north of Kent has historically been a marshland area and is under great pressure by developers. In addition to the great variety of wild life found on and along the Thames, these marshes offer invaluable natural flood protection for London area, ever under threat of flooding.

Dave Wardle, of the Environment Agency, believes that "London and the Thames Estuary currently have one of the best tidal defence systems in the world."

The Environment Agency assesses these systems will provide a high standard of protection well beyond 2030. However they also advise that future development in the Thames Gateway must go hand in hand with flood risk management, and take account of future plans for flood protection. The Agency insists it is important that effective flood risk management of the whole Estuary is not prejudiced by early decisions and development on the Gateway. (Source: Audacity.org)

See also

External links

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