Beautiful Dereliction: The Thames Shoreline by Convoys Wharf, Deptford

These photos (the 45th in an ongoing project to photograph the whole of London by bike) are from a visit to the shoreline of the River Thames in Deptford, below the derelict, 40-acre site of Convoys Wharf, which Hong Kong-based developers are hoping to turn into a mini-city of high-rise luxury apartments for Canary Wharf bankers and international investors costing a billion pounds.

These plans -- resisted by numerous organisations including English heritage and by local campaigning groups -- lack appropriate respect for the wharf's history, as the first and most significant Royal Dockyeard founded by King Henry VIII (in 1513), and they will also exclude local people (as there is scant provision of affordable housing), will impose inappropriate Canary Wharf-style towers on Deptford's low-level shoreline, and will create traffic chaos.

The plans, if allowed to proceed, will also destroy the beauty of the shoreline, which I hope to have captured in these photos, because, although the pier that features prominently is a listed building, it -- and the shoreline -- would be thoroughly tidied and restored so that a ferry service -- to Canary Wharf, of course -- would be able to ferry Deptford's imported bankers to their offices.

For more on Andy Worthington, see: www.andyworthington.co.uk/
Also see the "Deptford Is" campaigning website: www.deptfordis.org.uk/2011/11/alternative-vision-is-launc...
And you can also object to the planning application: www.deptfordis.org.uk/p/how-to-object-to-convoys-wharf-pl...
Also, for a more detailed article explaining the background to the Convoys Wharf story, see: www.andyworthington.co.uk/2012/10/17/beautiful-derelictio...