For much of the past 70 years, east London has been viewed as an oasis of potential prosperity, an untapped resource capable of offering homes and jobs for Londoners in their thousands.
And for that same length of time, very little has happened and unfortunately those opportunities have not been realised.
In the Abercrombie Plan for London in 1944, a great deal of the east of the capital was located beyond the River Lea, therefore in Essex, and not part of London as we know it, while the Thames Gateway idea tended to reinforce the notion of the east of London being apart from the city, a lone wolf.
The original Gateway plans were planned literally from a helicopter, which may go some way towards explaining why this concept struggled to get off the ground.
New formula needed
Even as recently as 2004, it was estimated that east London could cope with only 50,000 new homes. A new formula for success was needed and from a detailed planning perspective it was important for the location of housing and industrial sites to take place because this issue had created a delay in bringing forward housing land in the past. It needed addressing.
The answer? The mayor, working together with the boroughs and Transport for London, launched the City in the East – a major new framework linking 13 Opportunity Areas across the east of the capital combined with the transport infrastructure to make it happen.
Reclaiming the east
A new vision has been born and that vision is to reclaim the east as part of the city. It is important that we plan and promote London as a city rather than as 32 separate boroughs.
Rather than the top-down imposition of years gone by, the mayor recognises that east London is the part of the capital with the greatest growth potential. It is crucial that we make the most of this at a time when we need to build the houses and the work space for an ever-growing population.
Genuine collaboration
What makes his plan so different? It is a genuine collaboration between city hall and the boroughs, working together on our own initiatives to plan for the bigger picture.
For too long, sites towards the east of the capital have sat derelict, contaminated and without the required transport links and infrastructure to make them survive.
It has to be a place that the hundreds of thousands of Londoners who will be living and working in this area want to be.
Therefore, it is essential to provide not only the homes and offices, but also the detailed planning strategy that can make the most of commercial and industrial uses to identify the right places for schools, work spaces and hospitals.
Land must be allocated in places that are well suited to industry so that we can free up surplus land for housing. The capital needs commercial and industrial land to function, so it is not just about getting rid of that land, it is about managing its location.
As a result, early estimates have revealed that this area – around the size of Glasgow –could accommodate 210,000 new homes and generate 280,000 jobs over the next 20 years.
The challenges are still there, but getting the most out of our public transport investment is going to be essential in order to encourage developers to invest in East London.
Innovative ideas
Innovative ideas such as the undergrounding of the A13, which has been promoted by Barking and Dagenham council, with 10,000 homes built on the deck above provide a glimpse of new ways of thinking not only to maximise land use, but also to ensure these new uses have the transport infrastructure to support them. Again, it is all about creating a place.
Sire Edward Lister is chief of staff and deputy mayor of London for planning
