Bede Island is an area of
Leicester,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
close to the city centre, with the
River Soar to the west and
Grand Union Canal
The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter ...
to the east.
For many years Bede Island South was a run down area of
brownfield land
In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land prev ...
home to
Vic Berry's locomotive scrapyard but in the 1990s
urban regeneration
Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of bligh ...
sought to improve housing, employment opportunities and the environment in the area.
The programme was successful in developing the waterfront of Leicester, a key part of the overall transformation of the city.
Local streets are named after herbs and spices, these are Sage Road, Tarragon Road, Coriander Road, Mint Road and Thyme Close (these names resulted from the children at Hazel Street infants and juniors School and Shaftesbury junior school being asked about names for the new housing development - they asked for them to be named after the pop group The Spice Girls but the Council deemed that was not appropriate and a compromise of the current names was the outcome!).
Office blocks were built on northern side where had been the offices of the former Great Central Railway offices and the former site of the art-deco buildings of the Kirby and West dairy on The Newarke, which had relocated to Richard III Road.
See also
*
Incorporation of nature within a city
Over the centuries the roles of rivers as part of the city has altered many times from the original use for the irrigating crops in nearby fields, as well as being an essential resource in establishing a permanent settlement.
However, when the i ...
References
External links
Essay on Bede IslandLeicester Regeneration Company
Areas of Leicester
Redeveloped ports and waterfronts in England
Leicester
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