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The Lddc Achieved This Through Partly Through Building The First Phase Of The ...

The LDDC achieved this through partly through building the first phase of the Docklands Light Railway (DLR). Its visibility quickly pushed up the price of land in the area (Foster 1999: 79). City Airport opened in 1987, again making the area more attractive to investors.
Between 1981 and 1985, the LDDC worked to identify growth industries that might help revitalise the Docklands areas in the wake of declining sectors. Technological companies were seen as an option, although it has been suggested that limited analysis was carried out in order to reach this opinion (DCC 1990: 8). The sector's focus on sites along the M4 corridor, with better transport, lower staff costs, close proximity to MOD sites and availability of greenfield sites with ample opportunity to expand suggested Docklands was not a suitable environment (ibid).
A more random approach of seizing opportunity wherever it arose has been credited with the success of the campaign to make Docklands attractive to investors: Reg Ward, the first LDDC Chief Executive, has said that probably eighty per cent of what we did in those first four or five years was the result of total accident, creativity and belief (quoted in Foster 1999: 84). This suggests that even where there was an element of planning and analysis, the actual regeneration was somewhat ad hoc and unpredictable, which in turn led to challenges on how to develop the local infrastructure to cater for the development.
However, while the LDDC believed in not having a plan (Foster 1999: 86), the consequences of the EZ in effect created one.
Human Resources
An LDDC brochure published in or around 1982 states that local people will provide an immediate pool of labour (Hillman 198?a: 30). However, a 1987 survey showed that firms in Tower Hamlets established before 1981 drew 60% of employees from the borough, while for those established after 1981 the figure was only 29% (Church 1988: 219).
In Southwark, Tower Hamlets and Newham, 55% of residents were classified as skilled and semi-skilled manual workers: however, 70% of the jobs coming into Docklands were service-related (DCC 1990: 26). The LDDC responded by setting up training scheme to help local residents acquire skills necessary to get jobs in the new developments: however, the first round drop-out rate from courses was 50% (Church 1988: 219).
An LDDC census of employment claimed that 20,317 jobs had been attracted to Docklands, but only 4,593 were new (DCC 1990: 26). Between 1981 and 1987, 85 firms were relocated by the LDDC to outside the Docklands area, and in 1988 a further 100 were being assisted to do likewise, with some moving too far for Docklands residents to commute (Church 1988: 216). This contributed to the 11,145 job losses in the area during development and the overall net loss (DCC 1990: 26).


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