Inner City Initiatives and Re-Development Schemes

EXAMINE THE REASONS FOR INNER CITY INITIATIVES AND RE-DEVELOPMENT SCHEMES (10)

The widest definition of an Inner City is “An area found in older cities surrounding the CBD, where the prevailing economic, social, and environmental conditions pose severe problems';

Although the inner city areas have been identified as having problems for many years, it was not until 1988 that Margaret Thatcher put forward the “Action for Cities'; campaign. She realised that something had to be done to improve the conditions, and took the problems found in the inner cities as the reasons why the re-development schemes were necessary. When launching the scheme Thatcher said “In partnership with the people and the private sector, we intend to step up the pace of renewal and regeneration to make our inner cities much better places to live, work, and invest';. The inner city programme specified 6 aims:

- to enhance job prospects and the ability of residents to compete for them

- to bring land and buildings back into use

- to improve housing conditions

- to encourage private sector investment

- to encourage self-help and improve social fabric, and

- to improve environmental quality.

The Government also set up programmes which would help these aims to be met, such as the Urban Development Corporations (e.g. LDDC London Docklands Development Corporation) and the availability of grants for urban development.

The inner cities had many problems all of which linked together to form a less affluent area which was very hard to improve as to help with one problem often meant having to solve another one too.

Housing in inner city areas was poor quality and in a 1991 census it was found that over 1 million homes in the inner cities still lacked the basic amenities of bathrooms, WC’s and hot water. The occupants have low incomes and are often elderly, young

Or consist of very large families leading to a high population density and over crowding. Large quantities of ethnic minorities are often found in the inner city areas such as Tower Hamlets in East London which has a very high percentage ( ) of Bangladeshi inhabitants.

The environment in these areas is also poor. There is very little open space and a distinct lack of trees and recreational land. There are many derelict buildings and sites, which may be unsafe and therefore dangerous, especially for children.

The areas often have a high crime rate and vandalism is common. This may be partly due to the lack of entertainment and places to go for youths.