Inner City Case Study

Canary Wharf

• One of the most important places to do business
• Annual salaries in the largest buildings in this area average £100,000 per person
• Westfield shopping centre in Stratford is largest shopping mall in Europe
• 8000 jobs created when it opened
• 2012 Olympics and Paralympics have thrust the East end of London into the global spotlight
• Olympic park is London's first new park in over a century
• New £16 million Crossrail project link East London with Heathrow Airport and the suburbs of West London

Canning Town

• 3km East of Canary Wharf
• Wealth and poverty side by side
• Residents suffer deprivation, low incomes, poor health and comparatively high crime
• Jubilee Line - life expectancy drops 9 years

Housing

• mostly social housing
• most have gardens
• decaying, high rise tower blocks were demolished in 1990s
• Renovation improved condition of many of older buildings
• Stock Woolstencroft's residential scheme completed in Canning Town Work - completed on a £69 million mixed tenure residential scheme on Barking Road

Problems for residents

• Expensive housing - less expensive then rest of London, still unaffordable on low incomes - large family houses in short supply
• Low incomes - 2007, the average household income was £23,000 with an average income per person of just £10,000
• 37.6% in full time work, 8.1% employed part time, 9.1% permanently disabled/sick
• Poor health - only 65% of people classified as having general good health. 20.7% described as having poor health or limiting long-term illness
• Low educational achievement - 43% of working adults had no qualifications - only 16.5% have university degrees

Ethnic Minorities

• High percentage of minority ethnic groups in Canning town who were born outside of the UK and form whom English language skills can be a barrier to employment and achievement
• 61% are white, 6.4% Asian/Asian British, 26.9% Black/Black British, 5.7% other

Quality of life in Canning Town

• 21% residents dissatisfied - in London its 5% and England its 3%.
• Education and crime two top priorities people wanted to address
• Council has low spending power but has to allocate a lot of it to benefits and care

• Funded by central gov since mid 2000s
• Aim to create neighbourhoods with a mixture of improved employment, services and owned and rented accomodation
• £3.7 billion - 4 areas
• Housing
• 10,000 new homes replaced old high rise tower blocks - family homes made
• Existing housing replaced or renovated
• Wealth and Employment
• Skills training provided for local people
• Low-cost offices and workspaces built for local businesses
• New workplaces include shops and supermarket
• Improved bus services now offer better transport to workplaces
• Education
• Improvements to primary and secondary schools
• Health and Welfare
• Improvements to services include a new health centre, library, community centre and upgraded play areas for children