'People are worried'

One of London's poorest boroughs in limbo after market relocation is axed

- Joanna Partridge

Behind huge locked gates, the sprawling expanse of concrete and scrubland was supposed to be a hive of activity by now.

Formerly the site of Barking Reach power station, these 17 hectares (42 acres) of industrial land at Dagenham Dock in east London were due to be redeveloped into a new, purpose-built wholesale food market for the capital.

However, that changed late last year when the site’s owner, the City of London Corporation, announced it had cancelled the development, which would have relocated Smithfield meat market and Billingsgate fish market.

The corporation, which is exceptionally wealthy compared with typical UK local authorities, blamed inflation and rising construction costs, despite having already spent just under £230m of the project’s £741m cost on buying and clearing the land. It has since faced anger over its plans to permanently close London’s ancient food markets in 2028.

“The City of London ploughed a lot into clearing the site up,” says the local Labour MP, Margaret Mullane, looking through the gates at the vacant lot.

The decision was a big blow for Dagenham, located north of the Thames on London’s eastern fringe, with a proud industrial heritage once synonymous with its Ford factory, where some of the carmaker’s best-known vehicles - including the Model Y and Fiesta - rolled off the production line.

The days of Ford’s dominance in the area are long gone. In its 1950s heyday it employed about 40,000 people, compared with just under 2,000 now.

Barking and Dagenham council expected the markets would bring 2,700 jobs to the area, boosting the local economy in a borough that is home to 220,000 people and has some of the highest levels of deprivation in the capital. The area was also ranked fifth-worst in England in the most recent index of deprivation.