How would you improve Peckham town centre?

[tomchance]

Apols if this is in the wrong part of the forum, I can never quite work out what the rules are...

Anyway, I'm interested to read what others would do to improve Peckham town centre, which a lot of people in ED - and SE15 people who say they live in ED ;-) - use.

I've spent the last six months surveying almost a thousand households in the area and talking with planners, town centre managers etc. along with my fellow candidates. We've put together these proposals and we've sent them to various local groups like the Peckham Society and tenants/residents associations: http://southwark.greenparty.org.uk/peckham

In parallel there have been a few meetings of a loose forum of people, which we've participated in, to discuss the town centre. Something I really came away with from those was the importance of getting cross-party and wider resident/trader/police/council/etc. agreement, so I thought it would be interesting to see what fellow ED forum users think.

[TheArtfulDogger]

Resurect the Town Centre Management Group or employe a town centre manager and let those who are trained in town centre stratagies do their work

I believe Mike Smith (Owner of McDonalds) was / is the chair of the town centre group

[The Minkey]

I do most of my shopping in Peckham as I'm limited in how far I can travel. First two things off the top of my head:

Encourage a diverser range of businesses: There are far too many businesses all offering the same kind of stuff. It's a bit like Brixton was back in the 90's, largely bottom end outlets, without the benefit of its more upmarket stores like Morleys or M&S to provide a little balance.

Clean it up: Coming through this evening, I was struck by how dirty and tired it all looked - there's a thick layer of grime over everything and piles of rubbish everywhere.

[PeckhamRose]

Could you say your interest, TOm Chance? Green Party candidate or something?

Market forces mean that Peckham's Rye Lane has become Little Africa just as Southall has become Little India.

They seem happy with it. The nail parlours are also social centres and open all hours of the night.

Why should white liberals stick their noses in. Let market forces decide.

Just my tuppence worth.

[The Minkey]

Tom: Just read your proposals - top notch! Hope you manage to pull it off.

[MitchK]

You can't polish a turd.

[tomchance]

@TheArtfulDogger - yes, a town centre manager and a re-established forum is top of our list. But I do think it's right to extend the spirit of community councils to provide more people with input into their town centre. What do you think?

@The Minkey - M&S hasn't been in Peckham for a long time and I doubt they'll return for a while. Longer term there are lots of people looking to open up the square in front of the station and the arches, creating a better public space for cafes & restaurants, whilst the Copeland industrial area could be a thriving workshop / arts space, if the business model could stack up.

@PeckhamRose, yes I'm one of three Green candidates. I'm a bit reluctant to advertise that here, a lot of people are upset about politics on this board, I'd hoped it would be obvious from following the link to the proposals. As for white liberals sticking their nose in, many of our ideas came from talking to a really diverse mix of people on the doorsteps. For more thoughts on this maybe read my recent piece for Liberal Conspiracy? http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/04/09/responding-to-the-bnps-claims-in-peckham/

@MitchK - did you know that Peckham used to be one of the major shopping and business destinations in south London? They're just demolishing the historic Holdrons store, which was anything but a turd.

[MitchK]

Mr Chance, I wish you luck. Have you given any thought as to why Peckham is no longer 'one of the major shopping and business destinations in south London' and what you can do about the cause?

By the way, I saw your leader on TV tonight. ?8.10 for the minimum wage was it? Classic.

[PeckhamRose]

Peckham is not lponger what it was because it has evolved into something different. It has become for the while anyway, Little Africa, which is fine. Africans don't have as much money and that is reflected in the shops and goods being sold therein. Do you not like their shops and what they buy and sell? Well they do which is why those shops are busy.

Just because it is not like how you want it, and you want it back to the 1970s when M&S and posher shops were there, doesn't mean that if you got rid of all the shops that were there now people would come flooding back. The shops that are there now serve their purpose. Market forces.

[tomchance]

PeckhamRose, I'd suggest you actually read our proposals and perhaps that article I linked to. Then we can debate what to do. We actually explicitly state that we are not talking about posh shops and getting rid of what's there. It's absolutely not a complaint about the great west African shops we have there, some of which I make regular use of.

[Jeremy]

I think the biggest improvement would come from knocking down the buildings around the station, opening it all up so you can see the lovely original building, and creating a sense of space. At the moment it's very claustrophobic. Although I realise this probably won't be possible.

PeckhamRose, I hear what you're saying, but I don't always think it's wise to leave these things entirely to market forces. The council should be able to exercise some control over the mix of businesses in a town centre.

[Michael Palaeologus]

You cannot indeed polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter.

A bloody great tram terminus would help, along with the Overland extension.

[daizie]

More old bill .

[The Minkey]

"@The Minkey - M&S hasn't been in Peckham for a long time and I doubt they'll return for a while. Longer term there are lots of people looking to open up the square in front of the station and the arches, creating a better public space for cafes & restaurants, whilst the Copeland industrial area could be a thriving workshop / arts space, if the business model could stack up."

Yes, sorry - I didn't mean to suggest Peckham is crying out for M&S, I rather meant it as an example of a diversity of choice which is no longer available in Peckham, imo. I think the idea to open up the square and arches is a good one as would be the creation of affordable workshop / arts spaces.

[Acid Casual]

I think that a few simple things would actually make quite a big difference.

I saw a picture of Peckham Rye station from about 50 odd years ago when it had an open square at the front of it and it looked pretty smart. A bit like Greenwich and not the rat run it is now. The shops there could easily be re-housed in some of the arcade units etc.

Also maybe a building/development policy which is the three things that I consider all such developments should be - socially minded, sympathetic to the overall aesthetic of the area, not necessarily of a particular era, but should compliment (some might argue that this is no mean feat) and ecologically built and sustainable.

Just my two pence worth...

[Acid Casual]

Actually Tomchance, I just clicked your link and skimmed through.

Granted, I've not been through it forensically, but I do agree with a lot of what you say. The general cleanliness and environment is certainly key.

Got to say I quite like the Green Party. The main parties are strictly 20th century politicians, and the public are getting fed up with refereeing/witnessing their stupid, juvenile, pointless playground spats that you would not entertain for a moment if it was two 7 year old kids.

I genuinely think that The Green Party is a 21st century political party inasmuch as they tend to focus on issues rather than rhetoric. Unfortunatley it is unlikely to catch on anytime soon, but I do genuinely wish you the best.

[tomchance]

Opening up the square in front of the train station would be wonderful, I know it's something a lot of people have worked on for years. The main barrier seems to be the ownership of the buildings and long leases on them.

@Acid Casual, I agree with your comment about building/development policy. I've noticed that the Christian group who have recently refurbished the old Arsenal co-op building at the bottom of Rye Lane have kept the curved arch as part of a fairly contemporary glass frontage, which is a good example of it.

Oh, and don't forget we do have a Green councillor in Southwark who is also a London Assembly member and six next door in Lewisham ;-)

[bil]

Is funding earmarked for these improvements? The proposals are adequate and sound achievable with the right resources. The lighting is poor on the lane. Keeping the area well lit, clean and looking appealing would be my main wishes.

If the funding was available, could some of the elements of Bellenden regeneration e.g. street lamps etc be replicated on the high street?

Deptford high street/town centre has planned station redevelopment, a new square and has some art galleries and cafes but still has a number of African, vietnamese, English grocery shops. It is similar to Rye lane in many of its characteristics.

some possible ideas...

http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/Environment/Regeneration/DeptfordAndNewCross/DeptfordTownCentre/

[Huggers]

Exposing the old station, as other have said, renovating and using the amazing original billiard room, opening up a square around the station.

[jimmy two times]

More drug dealers.

[SteveT]

Peckhamrose wrote:- Why should white liberals stick their noses in.

A bit of a racist statement when only black liberals are allowed to stick theirs in.

[skidmarks]

Widening the pavements a touch and resurfacing the roads would go a long way, plus flushing out the gully pots regularly to remove that Peckham Rye stink coming up from the road drains we?re all used to.

[jimmy two times]

A statue of Del Boy ?

[SteveT]

Making Rye lane one way would give more room for pavement.

[SteveT]

Change the piece of green by the pulse in to a car park would ease congestion caused by parked vehicles.