Portsmouth and Thames Gateway: Coastal Environmental Resources and Users.

Abstract

Both Portsmouth and Thames Gateway face challenges relating to the changing relationships between urban development, human mobility and environmental changes. However, the sites, development histories and environmental settings of the two urban areas mean that these are articulated very differently in terms of both resources and stakeholder interests. Given the importance of the ecosystems at both sites, the intertidal areas (mudflats and salt marshes) are protected by national and international conservation designations, but a combination of development pressures and climate change constitute major threats to these areas. In Portsmouth, migration and an increasing student pressure underlie a renewed demographic dynamism, but the land available for new housing and economic development is highly constrained by its site and planning regulations. Thames Gateway is a large diverse region that has been designated as the major focus for urban development in the South East of the UK, and it is accommodating above average population increases through extensive programmes of house building on brown field land. The distinctive spatial and temporal distribution of increasing tourism and leisure functions add to the pressures in both areas, but especially Portsmouth. These demographic and construction pressures are generating conflicts over the availability of recreational spaces, water, waste disposal and energy. Inevitably, such conflicts are being played out in context of intense social and territorial inequalities that are reflected in the distribution of power and the way in which issues are formulated.