View report page

43
due almost entirely to natural increase arising from the relatively
high proportion of the present population under middle age.
Estimated mid-year population of England and Wales at
48,815,000 indicates a decrease of 172,700 (0.35%) from last year
whilst that for Greater London, viz. 7,418,020 also shows a loss
amounting to 194,260 (2.55%). This year the South Eastern
Region which in recent times has partially compensated for
London's falling population has itself registered a reduction of
some 56,410 (0.33%) to 17,259,100 which represents 35.4% of the
total for England and Wales.
Following the Registrar-General's publication of tentative figures
for the 1971 Census, Greenwich is now estimated to have a population
of 217,790, a fall of 8,340 (3.7%) from the figure returned for
1970. Since the Census of 1961 the Borough has sustained a reduction
of 12,460 in its population, equivalent to a decrease of 5.41%.
Population Losses—Social Implications
(a) London
Probable influences on life in the Greater London area arising
from the adoption of policies based upon the Abercrombie
recommendations were outlined in last year's Report. However,
little mention was made of the slowing down of migration to the
South East Region from the North nor of the difficulty of providing
employment in towns taking the "decanted" population from the
Metropolis, both of which have long-term social and economic
consequences upon the South in general and London in particular.
London's declining population, amounting to over 500,000 since
1961, does not necessarily imply that the capital is no longer
receiving immigrants but rather that, over this period, replacement
of its "decanted" indigenous inhabitants by the inflow of people
from other sources is, by arrangement, not being actively pursued.
It is known that manufacturing workers who have removed from
London with their firms to expanded towns during the last 15
years number some 6,700 but this is only a small part of the picture
since similar records for new towns and development areas are
not available. There is greater certainty about the fact that
between 1965/71 the number of registered dock-workers, including
those at Tilbury, has contracted by 8,500 to a total of 16,994 and
that since 1961 there has been a nett loss of 400,000 manufacturing
jobs in the London area as a whole. Reasons for such reduction
are numerous and include industrial rationalisation, mergers and
"take-overs". However, it is mainly deliberate G.L.C. policies
directed towards discouraging industry from establishing or expanding
itself in the Metropolis and encouraging the younger
married elements in the capital to take up residence and