Michael Heseltine Interview, Canary 2001
Michael Heseltine, politician, property developer and publisher, talks to Kamin Mohammadi about his role in the regeneration of London Docklands and the genesis of Canary Wharf
On the night I met Michael Heseltine, the rain was pouring down in sheets, heralding the apocalyptic weather that was soon to devastate Britain. The floods and chaos that ensued would probably have been the kind of crisis he would have relished grappling with. Even Norman Tebbit – not known as Heseltine’s greatest fan – has conceded his ability to get things done. ‘Given a single issue to pursue, Heseltine will pursue it to the very end,’ he has said.
This was certainly the case with Heseltine’s determination to reinvigorate Britain’s neglected inner cities, especially the area that now contains Canary Wharf. His interest in the regeneration of London’s docks began in 1973 when, as Minister for Aerospace, he chartered a light aircraft to Southend to inspect a proposed site for London’s third airport. ‘That was when I saw for the first time the dereliction in the East End of London,’ he recalls.
In 1979, as Secretary of State for the Environment, he began to tackle the problem by setting up the jointly public- and private-funded London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC). ‘I wanted to take over these great tracts of derelict land which were under the control of Labour local authorities, because they clearly weren’t going to do anything about them,’ he says. Heseltine is still vociferous on this point; he refers repeatedly to how many Conservative policies hinged on breaking the stranglehold of local councils.
‘We were in the business of creating self-serving communities, not a vicious circle of decline,’ he says. ‘That was the process we had to cut into. When we started, none of us knew the scale or the pattern of what would happen to Docklands. I didn’t know what would be grasped – the idea was to wait for the market to come along and grab these opportunities.’
The opportunities at Canary Wharf were, of course, grabbed by Olympia & York, the property company headed by Paul Reichmann (later to become the Canary Wharf Group). Reichmann had a vision of a grand scheme of high architectural quality and foresaw the need for giant trading floors as financial companies consolidated in London.
But it wasn’t all plain sailing, as Heseltine recalls: ‘There was resistance from local tenants, who felt betrayed by local councils and the nationalised industries. The LDDC took real trouble with local communities.’ He sees the role the public/private LDDC played as crucial to the philosophy of his government, and subsequent administrations. ‘The public sector has realised that the private sector people are not ogres, they’re just human beings like them.’
Heseltine sees Canary Wharf as symbolic of the the successful redevelopment of the area. ‘[Canary Wharf] put the gilt on the project. It is immensely exciting to have started the process.’