The London Docklands By Florian Biastoch and Martin Herbst The London Docklands were the biggest area of dockland in Europe until the second World War. As the British Empire lost a lot of colonies, like India, Malaysia and Australia, after the second World War they were no longer able to trade with these countries to the same extent. At the same time container-technology was developed which means that the dockland areas were no longer needed. Only a few docks were now needed. Most of the dockland area was left to decay. In 1976 the town planners began to develop a concept for the Docklands which was to be completed by 1997. The Conservatives claimed that it was possible to reclaim the decaying docklands using private capital. Labour voters on the other hand believed that the development of the Docklands could cause employment and housing problems. For a while the Tories and the Labour Party could not come to an agreement on the development, but after uncountable debates, they agreed to release the Greater-London-Development-Plan, which was manly carried by the fact that over 80 percent belonged to the government. In 1979 Michael Hesseltine took over the organisation of the development and founded the London Docklands Development Corporation which based on a partnership with private investment groups. Margaret Thatcher who won the election in 1979 was able to attract a great deal of private investors for the project, Labour demanded much more government investment. The next step was it to create an Underground from Westminster to Stratford, which was also paid mainly by private investors. Between 1981 and 1993, 861 million Pounds were spent by the LDDC to create a new and better infrastructure, a cleaner environment and the Light Railway, which made the Docklands more attractive for big companies. It was responsible for the entire building programme and was allowed to do more less at it wished. After completion the poor areas had been transformed into a Yuppie Paradise where a studio apartment cost 1,000,000 DM. A four-room apartment cost 3,000,000 DM or even more.

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