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Heseltine calls on Foster and Lipton to help estuary transformation

London Docklands development.

The new Thames Estuary 2050 Growth Commission, led by regeneration guru Sir Michael Heseltine, will have the backing of a number of industry big hitters as it embarks on its ambitious aim of developing a long-term vision and delivery plan for the Thames Estuary region.

Speaking to the Financial Times, The Tory peer said that the commission, which was announced by George Osborne in his Budget last month, will draw on best practice from around the world, including Docklands and Canary Wharf, as it looks to transform the estuary area by boosting economic activity, training and attracting skilled workers, and maximising planned infrastructure, including a new river tunnel.

The commission, which plans to report back to the chancellor towards the end of 2017, is reported to include some of the country’s leading property figures like Canary Wharf developer Sir George Iacobescu,  architect Lord Foster, Sir Stuart Lipton, who built the City of London’s Broadgate estate and Tony Pidgley, whose company Berkeley Group is one of the capital’s largest housebuilders. The line shows how seriously Lord Heseltine and the government are taking the task of regenerating and transforming the Thames estuary area.Foster proposed a new international airport located in the Thames Estuary on the Isle of Grain as part of a new transport hub.

"The Thames estuary is probably this country's greatest single prospective area for growth"

- Lord Heseltine

Heseltine told the FT that the commission will be “trying to capture some of the imagination and qualitative impact” that helped to regenerate and transform east London through places like Canary Wharf, London City Airport and the Excel business centre. He said that he was aiming to take “a visionary approach” in his new role and claimed that the Thames estuary was “probably this country’s greatest single prospective area for growth”. 

Previous initiatives to develop the area, like the Thames Gateway set up by John Prescott in 2007, are thought to have failed because unlike Canary Wharf, the authorities never created a body with overall responsibility for every part of the public and private sectors, Lord Heseltine said. 

In 1981 when he was the secretary of state for the environment, Heseltine, formed the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) to redevelop the area. LDDC was a statutory body appointed and funded by central government, with wide powers to acquire and dispose of land in the Docklands. It also served as the development planning authority for the area.

Another important government intervention was the designation in 1982 of an enterprise zone, an area in which businesses were exempt from property taxes and had other incentives, including simplified planning and capital allowances. This made investing in the Docklands a significantly more attractive proposition and was instrumental in starting a property boom in the area.

LDDC was controversial. It was accused of favouring elitist luxury developments rather than affordable housing, and it was less than popular with the local communities, who felt that their needs were not being addressed. Nonetheless, the LDDC was central to transformation of the area. It was wound up in 1998 when control of the Docklands area was handed back to the respective local authorities.

Stuart Robinson, UK planning chairman at property consultancy CBRE, said that the Thames estuary faced four key challenges - insufficient transport, including a lack of river crossings; the need for more housebuilding; attracting people and businesses from outside the area; and securing the support of local people who might otherwise oppose large-scale development.

Given the Treasury's spending constraints, Heseltine and his team of big hitters will have to do their job with very little public money.

Given the Treasury’s spending constraints, Heseltine's commissions will have to do their job with very little public money are likely to raise private cash through a small amount of public spending. 

Heseltine said that he would be adopting the same philosophy on the project as the Tories did in the 1980s, when investment was encouraged through the creation of enterprise zones which offered tax incentives and a relaxation of planning rules which encouraged businesses to move into deprived areas.

 

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