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Too many quangos - like ants around sugar
Baroness Jo Valentine03.12.08
Suddenly, the Thames Gateway has become the beacon of hope in a difficult economic landscape.
With transport connections by rail and air to the rest of Europe, the City and Canary Wharf as its neighbours, the world's biggest entertainment venue (the iconic O2), new green spaces and waterside housing and commercial development, it could be an estate agent's dream.
London's 2012 Games, Crossrail, Tube improvements and Thames Tideway tunnel are the very counter-cyclical investments espoused by Government and Mayor.
Olympic preparations are revolutionising infrastructure for a small part of the Gateway, an opportunity which could kick-start the regeneration.
But I fear we might be about to let the opportunity pass by. Not because the authorities haven't spotted it - but perversely because they are falling over each other to shape it.
An overheard conversation makes the point. A London politician asked a highly successful property developer why he wasn't investing in the Thames Gateway. "There are dozens of agencies who want to help you get in there." "That's precisely why I am not investing" was the answer.
Agencies, quangos, partnerships and steering groups, names and acronyms, gather around the Thames Gateway like ants around sugar. The TGP, the TGLP, LTGDC, HCA, LDA, ODA, LVRPA, CLG, DCMS, GLA.
We need fewer well-meant partnerships and more prospective deals with investors.
Who should an inward investor or developer talk to about a multi-million project? Where is the equivalent of the Docklands Development Corporation, the company charged with doing the deals; a one-stop shop for London's Eastern Promise? Let's not spread our effort thinly across the Gateway. The Olympic venues are already big stones in the pond. We need to amplify the ripples around the Lower Lea Valley first.
Last week, in the absence of clear Government policy, London First launched its own Green Paper. It sets out what is needed for regeneration of the London end of the Gateway. Strong leadership from Boris. Infrastructure to support communities. A one-stop shop, to hold the hand of those investors, so they are not put off by the myriad agencies.
If the 2012 Games are to cushion London from the worst of the recession we must act fast.
Reader views (2)
I notice that 'London First' is not one of the partnerships that Lady Valentine is proposing to rationalise.
- Roger Andrewes, London UK
Boris Johnsons dropping of the Dagenham Dock DLR extension on the basis that funds were not at present available shows a complete lack of understanding that these projects take many years to develop and gain funding. Witness Crossrail which had he been mayor he would have cancelled using this limited basis.
The former LDDC did a good job in getting the work underway it was a mistake to abolish it when there were many other areas it could have moved onto. It worked by putting in the infrustructure like the DLR ahead of the developers which is what the Dagenham Dock extension was meant to do.
Without the original DLR we would not have Canary Whalf and the thousands of jobs it has created. Unless we had created these buildings in central London by mass demolition of existing buildings but the transport infrustructure would not have been able to cope.
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex
