London Docklands Regeneration

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Was the Regeneration of the London Docklands a Success? During the nineteenth century the port of London was the busiest in the world with one quarter of all world trade going through the docklands. The docks were surrounded by warehouses, import/export and shipping industries and high density housing for the workforce. In the 1980s in an effort to change the process of inner city decline in the UK, the government set up Urban Development Corporations also known as UDCs. The aim of these UDCs was to regenerate inner city areas that had large amounts of derelict and un-used land by taking over planning responsibility from local councils. These UDCs had the power to acquire and reclaim land, convert old buildings and improve infrastructure through the investment of government money. The London Docklands Development Corporation During the 19th century, London's port was one of the busiest in the world, but by the end of the 1950s it was in significant decline with many of the docks derelict and abandoned. Due to increased the use of shipping containers (Containerization), as the shipping cranes could not cope with the weight of the shipping containers due to there lack of strength, size and instability. In response to the resulting social, economic and environmental problems the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) was set up in 1981. Some reasons that the docklands went into decline is the fact that: there was an increase in ship size meaning that they found it difficult to come down the river as far as the Isle of Dogs where the river wasn't as deep. The position of the docks were moved further downstream to Tilbury. Containerization meant few Dockers were needed with large cranes used to lift containers from ships causing a loss in business for some and unemployment for others. Also there was a decline of portside industries and
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