Reply from Southwark News
Cllr Kim Humphreys deputy leader says� (Southwark News 29 June) we need to think about the economic benefits of a tram. This is so, but it is a major diversion from the different and important issue in Peckham Vision�s deputation to full Council on Wednesday 28 June.
Any decision now to allocate a huge site in the heart of Peckham town centre for a tram DEPOT is premature. The land now proposed to be safeguarded for a �Split-Site� Tram Depot is the same as the site previously identified for a single-site depot. There has been no reduction. No information is available from Transport for London on how big the Depot would be, and how close the noisy and disruptive parts of the depot would be to the hundreds of neighbouring houses, never mind the loss of jobs, businesses and creative cultural activities. These are all major economic benefits, without the depot.
It is vital that this information is supplied for an informed public and transparent assessment of the positive and negative effects on jobs, businesses, homes and disruption to Peckham. The information on which previous decisions were taken to locate the Depot in Peckham is seriously inaccurate, misleading and, as the Planning Inspector put it, �simply not true�.
During the recent election Cllr Kim Humphreys said “I hope the planning authorities can come up with a suitable location that does not blight the area for residents, so we will work with local residents to find a mutually agreeable solution.”
Will he now honour his promise? Will he now press Transport for London to get ahead urgently with a full public review of all possible sites for the new policy of ‘Split-Site� depots? Will he get Peckham included so that we can have these discussions?