‘Governments are the most important players in regeneration’, to what extent is this true for an example you have studied?

A government is a group of people who have authority to govern a country or state and have the power to make decisions that involves the society and the economy. They play a key role in major decisions that involve a larger group of people being affected by those decisions. National governments are a large authority, which means that they have the funds and the resources to invest in regeneration projects such as the London Docklands. In 1991, the London Docklands Development Cooperation (LDDC) where granted planning permission which surpassed the powers of local councils, allowing them to obtain tax breaks on new buildings and create areas such as the Isle of Dogs Enterprise Zone in 1982. Since it is a cooperation set up by the UK government, they had the support to co-ordinate development around the area such as the development of Canary Wharf. Their aim was to create high earning jobs in order to generate other jobs; today it is seen as the second Central Business District which is home to large banks such as HSBC and Barclays all in the knowledge sector. As a result of the development, the East End is no longer one of the most deprived areas of London. Overall, the national government not only generated jobs in the East End but it also generated investment to fuel the regeneration of other areas of London. Private businesses are also a key player since they are the ones who are investment in areas which encourages the regeneration, and they also locate to places which have been built by governments stimulating more regeneration in areas which have previously been neglected. For example, for every £1 invested by governments into the area. It brought about £10 of private investment. The area has experienced £7.7 billion of investment mostly in the development in housing such as the Royal Worth creating new, luxurious housing which will soon open in 2017, in addition the Silvertown Urban village housing is comprised of 917 homes. As seen, private businesses are able to locate to the area and invest huge amount of money into the area. However, without the establishment of improved transport links and the environment surrounding the London Dockland by the LDDC, these large private businesses would not consider moving to such an area and there would be no such investment. In conclusion, without the creation of cooperation’s such as the LDDC by governments, there would be no such cooperation’s that would be willing to invest in a rundown area such as the East End. The £1.86 billion public sector investment made by governments have allowed the regeneration of the area which have as a result attracted public businesses. The London docklands area has as a result become one of the most successful areas of London especially in terms of the knowledge sector from the creation of Canary Wharf. This makes the government the largest player when it comes to regeneration.