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The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham historically overlaps part of the county of Essex and still is very much associated with it. Industrial and largely working class, like many urban areas along the Thames as it meanders its way towards the North Sea at Sheerness and Southend, the borough owes much of its industrialisation and commercialisation to the river.
Just nine miles east of central London and perfectly placed for easy access to and from the M25, the borough has good road links to the rest of the UK, to Stansted and Southend airports in particular and, via the Dartford crossings, with continental Europe. But, arguably, its historical associations with the Thames, which forms its southern border, are even more important for its industry and commerce. On a day-to-day level, the public transport’s good too, with many London bus routes, including the N15 and N86 night buses, as well as a wealth of National Rail services to Fenchurch Street, London Overground and of course London Underground’s Hammersmith and City Line and most recently the brand-new Elizabeth Line, which serves Chadwell Heath, right on the borough’s border with Redbridge. It’s great for cyclists too, with Cycle Superhighway 3 running from Barking into Canary Wharf, The City and the City of Westminster on a mostly segregated ‘bike freeway’.
Although historically Dagenham has been a mainly industrial and largely working-class area, it has more recently become something of a film and television production hub, which suggests that employment and career prospects in the area are broadening in scope. With some 46 state primary schools, 12 state secondary schools, four state special and alternative schools, several independent primary and senior all-through schools, 3 further education colleges and CU London (Coventry University’s Higher Education Institute), the borough offers ample employment opportunities for education professionals. And the local authority backs that up with its Cultural Education Partnership, which aims to ensure ‘every young person can confidently participate, shape, and take pride in creative and cultural opportunities, making their voice heard’.
Despite some notoriety, partly due to the starring role of one of the borough’s best-known towns in the feature films Made in Dagenham (2010) and Dagenham (2018), and the fact that the area does suffer considerable deprivation, Barking and Dagenham was actually rated the happiest of all London boroughs in the year ending March 2022. What’s more, average house prices are significantly lower than the London average at £404,562 and massive new developments are under way, including Barking Riverside, with lots of new homes, schools and other amenities and the proposed move of Billingsgate and Smithfield wholesale markets to the area, bringing with them over 2700 new jobs.