A planners’ designation for a corridor extending either side of the Thames in outer east London and beyond. Thames Gateway is the proposed site for a raft of projects that will create mixed residential communities by attracting people on a range of incomes, as well as providing employment areas and shopping and leisure facilities. Most of the building in Greater London will take place on former industrial land, some of which is at risk from flooding. In 2004 the London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, suggested that a second Chinatown could be among the future attractions in London’s part of the Thames Gateway but the developments presently taking place are less imaginative than this. A 2006 report from the Institute for Public Policy Research suggested that east Londoners considering moving to the Thames Gateway found the new homes ‘monotonous and characterless’. The report also noted concerns that the neighbourhoods could lack adequate public services and transport infrastructures, while people from black and minority ethnic communities were worried about the availability of culturally specific goods and services. Up to 120,000 new homes may be built by 2016.

The Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, seen from Thurrock Lakeside