The London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) was a

quango A quango or QUANGO (less often QuANGO or QANGO) is an organisation to which a government has devolved power, but which is still partly controlled and/or financed by government bodies. The term was originally a shortening of "quasi-NGO", where N ...

agency set up by the UK Government in 1981 to regenerate the depressed Docklands area of east

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. During its seventeen-year existence it was responsible for regenerating an area of in the London Boroughs of

Newham The London Borough of Newham is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by the ...

Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough covering much of the traditional East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former metropolitan boroughs of Stepney, Poplar, and Bethnal Green. 'Tower Hamlets' was originally ...

and Southwark. LDDC helped to create

Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is an area of London, England, located near the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Canary Wharf is defined by the Greater London Authority as being part of London's central business district, alongside Central Lon ...

, Surrey Quays shopping centre,

London City Airport London City Airport is a regional airport in London, England. It is located in the Royal Docks in the Borough of Newham, approximately east of the City of London and east of Canary Wharf. These are the twin centres of London's financial ...

, ExCeL Exhibition Centre,

London Arena The London Arena (also known as London Docklands Arena) was an indoor arena and exhibition centre in Millwall, close to Cubitt Town area of Poplar, on the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England which was inaugurated in 1989 and demolished for h ...

and the

Docklands Light Railway The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is an automated light metro system serving the redeveloped Docklands area of London, England and provides a direct connection between London's two major financial districts, Canary Wharf and the City of Lo ...

, bringing more than 120,000 new jobs to the Docklands and making the area highly sought after for housing. Although initially fiercely resisted by local councils and residents, today it is generally regarded as having been a success and is now used as an exemplar of large-scale regeneration, although tensions between older and more recent residents remain.

Reason for creation

London's Docklands were at one time the largest and most successful in the world. Starting with

West India Docks The West India Docks are a series of three docks, quaysides and warehouses built to import goods from and export goods and occasionally passengers to the British West Indies on the Isle of Dogs in London the first of which opened in 1802. Follow ...

in 1802,

East India Docks The East India Docks were a group of docks in Blackwall, east London, north-east of the Isle of Dogs. Today only the entrance basin and listed perimeter wall remain visible. History Early history Following the successful creation of the W ...

, Millwall Dock, Surrey Docks and then the Royal Docks, thousands of people were employed in international trade, warehousing and related trades. Over time, manufacturing industry also moved into the Docklands, including large coal and gas plants and storage, flour mills and many other businesses. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the docks area was heavily bombed during

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

, in an attempt to destroy the British economy. This crippled or damaged much of the infrastructure and many older buildings were lost or no longer used. There was a brief resurgence during the 1950s but the docks were empty by 1980. The main reason was

containerisation Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers and ISO containers). Containerization is also referred as "Container Stuffing" or "Container Loading", which is the p ...

: goods used to be brought into the UK by relatively small ships, unloaded by hand; from the 1970s onwards most trade was carried within

intermodal container An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, is a large standardized shipping container, designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different modes of transport – from ship ...

s (shipping containers) or by truck on roll-on/roll-off ferries. Between 1961 and 1971, almost 83,000 jobs were lost in the five boroughs in the Docklands area (

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

, Lewisham,

and Southwark). A large percentage of these jobs were from large transnational corporations. The decline was heightened by government policies which favoured the growth of industry outside London. The housing in the Docklands area was nearly all council-owned terraced housing and flats. There was no commercial infrastructure such as banks or building societies or any new office accommodation.

Formation

The London Docklands Development Corporation was established by the then

Secretary of State for the Environment The Secretary of State for the Environment was a UK cabinet position, responsible for the Department of the Environment (DoE). This was created by Edward Heath as a combination of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, the Ministry of T ...

Michael Heseltine Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, (; born 21 March 1933) is a British politician and businessman. Having begun his career as a property developer, he became one of the founders of the publishing house Haymarket. Heseltine served ...

, under section 135 of the

Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980 The Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980 (1980 c.65) was responsible for the establishment of development corporations, including the London Docklands Development Corporation The London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) was a qua ...

. It was financed by a grant from central government and from the proceeds from the disposal of land for development. The corporation acted as a catalyst benefiting from the full range of planning authority powers (principally those of development control). Additionally, the Government set up an Enterprise Zone with certain tax breaks in the area.

Operation 1981-1994

LDDC's first chief executive was

Reg Ward Albert Joseph Ward (5 October 1927 – 6 January 2011), known as Reg Ward, was the first Chief executive of the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC), serving in that capacity from 1981 to 1988. Early life and education The son of a ...

, a former chief executive of Hereford and Worcester County Council and Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council.Obituary: Reg Ward, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 12 January 2011 Ward said if he had created some grand plan..."we would still be debating and nothing would have got built. Instead, we have gone for an organic, market-driven approach, responding pragmatically to each situation." Billingsgate Market had already relocated from the City to Docklands, and this was thought to be typical of the type of industry which might be accommodated. However, Docklands was close to the City of London and this made it an attractive secondary office location as well as a possible site for riverside residential development to accommodate the phenomenon of

yuppies Yuppie, short for "young urban professional" or "young upwardly-mobile professional", is a term coined in the early 1980s for a young professional person working in a city. The term is first attested in 1980, when it was used as a fairly neu ...

, the young high-income single-person households created by new jobs in the financial services industry. In the first few years of LDDC's operation several offices and flats schemes were given the go ahead including on

Heron Quays Heron Quays is an area of the Canary Wharf development on the Isle of Dogs, part of the London Docklands. It is served by a railway station on the London Docklands Light Railway network, Heron Quays DLR station, which was moved south after the ...

and

Surrey Quays Surrey Quays is a largely residential area of Rotherhithe in south-east London, occupied until 1970 by the Surrey Commercial Docks. Previously known as Surrey Docks, the area was renamed following the construction of the Surrey Quays shopping ce ...

. Many of these buildings demonstrated unique architecture, such as the

Baltic Quay Baltic Quay is a large residential development, located in Surrey Quays in the London Borough of Southwark. Completed in 1989 during the London Docklands Development Corporation, it is largely known for its unique architecture, which won it award ...

building in the Surrey Docks. LDDC's success was due to seizing opportunity and making maximum use of its assets. When American/Swiss banker Michael von Clemm visited

looking for a restaurant site, he became interested in the idea of building a back office. Reg Ward jumped on this and the resulting scheme became the successful

development. When faced with a large amount of redundant railway infrastructure, the LDDC created a cheap light rail scheme, the

to make use of it. This in turn made the whole area more accessible to the public and helped create the conditions for further development. The LDDC tapped into the boom in air travel by creating a small business airport making use of the vast open spaces of the Royal Docks.

became a fast-growing and popular airport. During the 1980s private housing was developed in Docklands which with some minor exceptions were the first to be built in the area. Soon many people from outside the area saw the opportunity of buying a house close to the city at what appeared to be cheap prices. On many of the developments, local council tenants were given first opportunities to buy at discounted prices, but this led to a number of abuses.

Effects outside London

The success of the LDDC spurred the government to set up similar bodies elsewhere, for example in Merseyside (1981) and later the Black Country, Cardiff Bay, Trafford Park (Greater Manchester) (all 1987), and the

Central Manchester Development Corporation The Central Manchester Development Corporation was established in 1988 to develop parts of eastern Manchester. Its flagship developments included the Bridgewater Hall The Bridgewater Hall is a concert venue in Manchester city centre, England. ...

(1988).

Undemocratic nature

One feature of the LDDC was that it was "insulated" from the local democratically elected councils. Eddie Oliver, Deputy Chief Executive (1981–87) agreed that it was undemocratic, explaining that it was an extraordinary arrangement for an extraordinary situation".

Withdrawal 1994–1998

The LDDC began a staged withdrawal in 1994. It withdrew from

Bermondsey Bermondsey () is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham ...

in 1994, followed by Beckton in 1995, the Surrey Docks in 1996, from

Wapping Wapping () is a district in East London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Wapping's position, on the north bank of the River Thames, has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains through its riverside public houses and steps, ...

Limehouse Limehouse is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. It is east of Charing Cross, on the northern bank of the River Thames. Its proximity to the river has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains through ...

and the Isle of Dogs in 1997, and finally from the Royal Docks in late 1998. Under a process called "dedesignation" the powers it held reverted to the London boroughs. It was formally wound up on 31 March 1998.

References

External links

LDDC history pages
{{Authority control History of the London Borough of Newham History of the London Borough of Southwark History of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Government bodies based in London Redevelopment projects in London Organizations established in 1981 Organizations disestablished in 1998 Defunct organisations based in London Development Corporations of the United Kingdom Waterfront redevelopment organizations