On the site of an oil refinery, a new container port is being built in the Thames. below is the latest image from the Dubai-owned company website http://www.londongateway.com/ . The site is as large as the historic City of London (the "Square Mile") and is partly formed by dredging a deep-water channel to the sea. The material dredged out is used to make new land that will accommodate storage and warehousing for logistics companies. The company provides this history of maritime Thames and archaeological work in the port area http://www.londongateway.com/upload/environment/environment-overview/a-maritime-history.pdf
Unfortunately, this whole enterprise is predicated on London and the south-east of England being a huge market for imports. Hong Kong-based Hutchinson-owned Felixstowe will probably remain as a major port for exporters. The question of sustainability must be raised? How long can London and its region maintain a huge population on a financial services industry which is bailed-out to hundreds of billions of pounds?
Also, the effect of the combination of building new land into the Thames estuary, together with a deep channel, on the tidal range within the Thames should be considered. Especially at a time of rising sea levels and more extreme weather events (a tidal surge in the North Sea combined with storm flooding upstream would make London particularly vulnerable to flood)
This is a massive impact on the landscape.Compare with this Google maps image -
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Unfortunately, this whole enterprise is predicated on London and the south-east of England being a huge market for imports. Hong Kong-based Hutchinson-owned Felixstowe will probably remain as a major port for exporters. The question of sustainability must be raised? How long can London and its region maintain a huge population on a financial services industry which is bailed-out to hundreds of billions of pounds?
Also, the effect of the combination of building new land into the Thames estuary, together with a deep channel, on the tidal range within the Thames should be considered. Especially at a time of rising sea levels and more extreme weather events (a tidal surge in the North Sea combined with storm flooding upstream would make London particularly vulnerable to flood)
This is a massive impact on the landscape.Compare with this Google maps image -
View Larger Map
blinnded by hubris or what
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