Comprehensive Development Areas, a statutory designation under the Town and Country Planning Act (1947) , permitted the local authority to tackle the issue of urban blight, preventing piecemeal uncoordinated development, and directing future development according to a coherent plan. In order to achieve Comprehensive development Area designation, local authority town planners were required to provide evidence for consideration by the relevant government ministry, initially the Ministry of Reconstruction, then, after 1946, the Ministry of Town and Country Planning and the Ministry of Housing, which would then make a Declaratory Order. Eight Comprehensive Development Areas were included in the Administrative County of London Development Plan (1951) : City of London; Stepney/Poplar; Bermondsey; South Bank; Elephant and Castle; Bunhill Fields; Lewisham Clock Tower; Woolwich, St Mary's.

The scheme was broken down into the individual development areas for detailed implementation. An overview was also required, and files and plans relating to the whole Comprehensive Development Areas Project were also created.