London's plan for new Chinatown unveiled
The city's mayor wants the community to relocate from Soho to Docklands
London's Chinese community could be heading home. Not as far east as China but down the road to Docklands, in the East End.
The move is part of draft plans from London Mayor Ken Livingstone to build a second Chinatown at Canary Wharf, near Limehouse, where Britain's original Chinese population settled in the 1850s.
He hopes to tap into China's booming economy, which earns Britain exports of GBP2.5 billion (HK$35 billion) a year, and attract its companies to a redevelopment zone east of Canary Wharf, making it China's European commercial and possibly its cultural hub.
Companies such as Air China, Sinochem and Hanjin Shipping are already being canvassed in promotional efforts that included an event this week at the British Library hosted by Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt.
Feelers were also put out at Mr Livingstone's recent meetings with the Beijing and Shanghai mayors, said his spokeswoman. She said discussions with London's long-established Chinese businesses and its vibrant 60,000-strong community had also taken place, with a positive response.
Mr Livingstone said construction could begin 'towards the end of the decade' with planners told to ensure the new developments reflected London's cultural diversity.
'We don't want uniformity,' he said, adding that with room for 20,000 homes 'no one wants to create some uniform suburban homes in which everyone is the same'.
He said he wanted a commercial and social community 'as vibrant as the best parts of London'.
Many London Chinese back the plans, with groups claiming spiralling rents and overcrowding in the present Chinatown in Soho, worsened by planning restrictions on historic buildings.
Peter Ma, of the Tower Hamlets Chinese Association in east London, said: 'It is a good idea. Soho is very crowded, with high rents and limited space hitting businesses hard.
'The original Chinatown was in London's East End, at Limehouse by the old docks, and there are still many Chinese there but I know many more who would move back to give their businesses a better chance.'
A site close to Canary Wharf, with its new transport infrastructure and the planned site of the London Olympic bid nearby, is a firm favourite for future development with planners and local Chinese alike, although some say anyone moving would need support to relocate.
But Mr Ma says cheaper rents and leases may just force their hand. He said many Chinese relocated to Bayswater and then Soho to find cheaper rents in the first place. 'Why would they not do that again?'
