The regeneration strategy is underpinned by a commitment to deliver a lasting legacy for east London beyond the 2012 Games and based on a shared vision 'to transform the Lower Lea Valley into a vibrant, high quality and sustainable mixed use city district, that is fully integrated into London's urban fabric and set within unrivalled landscape that contains new high quality parkland and water features.'
The regeneration strategy aims to create between 30,000 and 40,000 new homes and 50,000 new jobs, harness the Valley's unique natural environment of canals, waterways and green spaces to create a 'water city' and leave a legacy of tremendous environmental improvements that will make this area of London a destination of choice for living and working.
This strategy is outlined in two new documents - the draft Lower Lea Valley Opportunity Area Planning Framework and Vision for the Lower Lea Valley produced in partnership between the GLA, the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation and the London Development Agency.
The Mayor said: "We have the fantastic once in a lifetime opportunity not only to transform east London and the lives of thousands of Londoners but also to create a brand new environment for living, working and recreation based around the reclamation of the area's unique network of long neglected canals and rivers. This shared vision now has the boost from our successful bid to host the 2012 Games and will now happen much quicker than we could have hoped, driven by the work of the Olympic Delivery Authority as it builds the Olympic Park and delivers the legacy we promised. That legacy of unrivalled green open spaces interwoven by the Valley's waterways will be the envy of the world."
Manny Lewis chief executive of the LDA said: "Our role in co-funding the London 2012 Bid was to secure a unique opportunity to rejuvenate what was the heart of London's Victorian industrial revolution. Our shared vision of a 'water city' envisages the most sustainable and the most inventive developments, the best environment, the best public spaces, the most useable, people-friendly new developments, all of which set new standards in energy conservation and green building practices."
The Planning Framework is a draft planning policy statement by the Mayor of London prepared in conjunction with the LTGDC and the LDA and builds on the strategic policies of the London Plan policies. It examines in detail the possibilities for the Valley from a planning context concluding that up to a maximum of 173 hectares of existing industrial land in the Valley could be released between 2005 and 2016.
