News/Station

News

Planning policies created by Southwark Council have a major effect on Peckham. The policies are developed by the political party or parties that get control through the local elections. So the Peckham Planning Network (PPN), made up of people living and working in Peckham, put some questions to the political parties standing for election to Southwark Council on 22nd May 2014. One of the questions is about the Station Gateway project. It points out that **Officers from the Council, GLA and Network Rail worked closely together from 2012 to 2014 leading up to the presentation on 18 January 2014 of Network Rail’s plans for the Peckham Rye Station Gateway development. After the plans were met by widespread concern and opposition as the wrong kind of development, councillors said that they were not happy with the proposals either. ** So

How was it that the relevant Executive Councillor Members did not know what plans were being developed in the discussions between council officers and Network Rail?
How will you ensure this lack of information won't happen again on this or any other significant project?

Here are the other questions: http://www.peckhamvision.org/wiki/images/3/3f/Election_Planning_questions_final.pdf

27 April 2014 Peckham Rye station gets Access for all funding

Peckham Rye is included in the list of a further 42 stations to be included in the Department for Transport’s Access for All programme. This means that lifts to all four platforms will be included in the Gateway development project.

April 2014 Community engagement brief for Station Gateway project

We have now received from the Council, in response to our request, a copy of the community engagement brief for the next stages of consultation on the Peckham Rye Station Gateway development. This is out for tender now to eight firms who have to respond by 8th May. The winning bidder will be selected 14th May and will be appointed by the Council in partnership with Network Rail, GLA and Southern Railways who form the project team. The community engagement work will be launched in June following the 22nd May Council elections. The brief gives the timing for the submission of the planning application as ‘Autumn 2014’.

9th April 2014 Letter from Network Rail to Harriet Harman MP

Harriet Harman MP has released for information the letter she has received from Network Rail agreeing to her request to meet them to discuss details of the Station Gateway project and the further community consultation. She says she will let people know when the meeting is arranged, and asks local people “to keep in touch to let me know your views on this important issue.” The Network Rail letter says: “the extended period [of five to six months] will allow us to undertake further meaningful engagement and consultation and engagement with key stakeholders and others in the local community, with a view to submitting a planning application to Southwark Council later in the year.” To contact Harriet Harman, email: harriet.harman.mp@parliament.uk. See Network Rail letter here.

3 April 2014 New timeline for Peckham Rye station redevelopment

Message from Southwark Council: "The GLA has now confirmed that they are willing to extend the deadline for the delivery of the Gateway to Peckham project and that the £5m of funding for the scheme is secure. Network Rail and the Council have decided we need to appoint some community engagement specialists to ensure the next stages of consultation (via a co-designing process) are successful. These specialists will be appointed shortly and we're expecting consultation events to start in the summer with a view to developing submitting a planning application in the autumn. Please see the press release that has been issued today."

Meeting with Harriet Harman MP 27th March 2014

Harriet Harman MP today met several businesses affected by Network Rail’s Station Gateway plans; the meeting was in the office of Copeland Park (owners of the Bussey building). There was a useful discussion about the issues they face from the uncertainty that Network Rail are issuing notices for eviction by December, even though the recent decisions mean the plans are being reconsidered. We suggested a regular news email to improve information and communications. Read more…

11th – 25th February Developments

Community support for Deputation at Community Council 12 February 2014

A local community deputation went to the Peckham & Nunhead Community Council on 12th February. Council agreed, after discussions with Harriet Harman MP, to ask the GLA to extend the timetable for the spending of the GLA £5m contribution, and to devise a ‘co-design’ process to ensure the community is properly engaged in the project design, including scope and purpose. A community campaign followed with many writing to London Mayor Boris Johnson to support this request, and the Mayor agreed.

3rd February 2014 ITV London News

Residents in Peckham say the capital's growing need for housing could soon destroy their local area. Currently there are plans for a multi-million pound redevelopment project around Peckham Rye Station, which will include blocks of flats. But locals are worried the regeneration could have a huge impact on the creative communities who live there. ITV News

24th January 2014 South London Press on Gateway project

23rd January 2014 Southwark News on the consultation

"It’s like an embryo growing in the womb, hacking off its leg and still expecting it to grow’ - that’s probably a first for describing plans to redevelop a train station. Yet that’s the strength of feeling - ‘bubbling hatred’ - even, at the designs for a £25m revamp around Peckham Rye station. The investment is long overdue, but as we’ve long argued in this paper, there is no point in regeneration’ if it doesn’t benefit those who lived and worked there before council planners got to work. Peckham, or at least the area around the station, has changed drastically since this investment was first mooted, with a crop of trendy restaurants and shops springing up. The anger at Saturday’s meeting should be a warning shot to the council - don’t destroy this organic regeneration in what is a well-intentioned bid to trigger further regeneration."
babies & bathwater
Peckham Rye Station Uproar

Station Gateway consultation 18th + 20th January 2014

This next consultation will be on the design proposals for the station Gateway project:
Saturday 18th January at Rye Lane Baptist Chapel, 3pm public meeting architects’ presentation & discussion
Saturday 18th January at Rye Lane Baptist Chapel, 11am to 5pm drop-in exhibition
Further information on displays and feedback here.

PNAAP Modifications comments 6th January 2014

During the preparation for the Public Hearings July 2013, a number of local residents and organisations worked together, and from this the Peckham Planning Network (PPN) evolved. As a result the PPN submitted a response to the consultation, in addition to those from other local organisations and individuals. Responses to the consultation had to be submitted by the deadline of 5pm 6th January 2014. They will be posted on the Council’s website in due course. In the meantime here are some of them.

2013

Peckham Vision Community Pop-Up 16th-18th December 2013

Peckham Vision’s 3 day community pop-up provided a pop-up cafe with snacks, and an exhibition with display panels on five consultations of significance for Peckham town centre. The pop-up was run by about 20 volunteers from the Peckham Vision team.

Summary of the five consultations
PNAAP Modifications proposed by the Inspector
Major planning issues & Southwark Plan review
Draft Conservation Area Management Plan & THI project
Peckham Rye Station Gateway project & planning application
Rye Lane Pocket Places

The exhibition included guidance and background material to make comments on each of the different consultations. Each of the panels can be downloaded individually here For the PNAAP modifications, a sample letter was provided for those who wished to support the Inspector’s proposals to strengthen the PNAAP’s protection of workspaces for the creative and artistic industries. The deadline was 5pm on 6th January 2014.

Station Gateway consultation 30th November 2013

consultation in the Old Waiting Room

Network Rail's architects held a consultation in the Old Waiting Room on 30 November 11am–3pm. Deadline for comments is 7th December. Some of the points to think about in all this are in the short briefing note we produced for visitors to the consultation. This consultation appears to be testing the public response to the preferred option. The consultation boards from Saturday’s event in the Old Waiting Room (see photo) are now up on the architects’ blog: http://peckhamryestation.com. Display Board 4 identifies questions about the architects’ thoughts for redevelopment of the whole site. These would require as expected the removal of the buildings in front to create the new square. But they also extend to the buildings alongside in Holly Grove and Blenheim Grove and behind the station. These buildings currently accommodate new creative businesses. Do they really need to be demolished when they are regenerating the area themselves in the existing buildings? The architects will hold another event in January to present their detailed ideas as the basis for the planning application in the Spring. It has been a disappointing wasted opportunity to leave the public engagement so late in the process, and then leave just a week to absorb and comment on the design ideas being used.

Station Gateway consultation Peckham & Nunhead Community Council 25th November 2013

At the Peckham Community Council meeting on 25th November, architects Weston Williamson, commissioned by Network Rail, explained that they would be developing the planning application for the redevelopment of the station surrounds to submit in February 2014, and that they would hold a consultation event on 30 November 2013 with a deadline for comments by 6 December. There would be a further consultation on the planning application proposals in January 2014. There were a number of comments from residents and businesses that the consultation period was unacceptably short at just a week. In addition, the Peckham Planning Network, made up of local people working on planning issues in Peckham, submitted and read out a statement to the Community Council of the poor community engagement process which had wasted time in the lead up to this point as the Council and Network Rail, for more than a year, had refused to engage in any public discussions about the design concept for the proposal.

South London Press report on Gateway project 4 November 2013

http://goo.gl/lCNF0K: "Businesses remain in the dark about their future as plans are drawn up for a railway station revamp that could force dozens to leave... The owner of a mechanic’s garage based under railway arches said he had no correspondence from Southwark council about its £25million “Peckham Gateway” project to create a new station square. Mr Smith told the South London Press: “I have heard nothing except through word of mouth... It would be nice to hear something because this business has been here for 30 years and I have been here 15 years… Councillor Fiona Colley, cabinet member for regeneration, said: “The immediate next steps will be the appointment of architects by the end of October, followed by community engagement and consultation over the next couple of months... Eileen Conn, from Peckham Vision … criticised the lack of communication from the council. She said: “There has been no meaningful engagement with stakeholders or wider community. Many people who support the creation of the new square will not be aware that this still appears to be tied to the wholesale clear-out of the area.”

BBC London TV report on Gateway project 3 November 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-24786785 - “A number of businesses have been told they may have to relocate under a £25m redevelopment plan for Peckham. Plans include transforming Peckham Rye Station and its surrounding area, creating a new square and encouraging cafes, bars and art shops to open. Southwark Council, which is working with the Greater London Authority and Network Rail on the project, says a business support team is in place to help those affected.”

Peckham Rye Station Gateway Project Developments Aug-Oct 2013

The Peckham Vision mobile exhibition and the public community conversation about the project continued at several public events, and on social media summarised here. A petition for public toilets to be provided in central Rye Lane in relation to the station developments was presented by Peckham Vision and the Rye Lane Traders’ Association to the Peckham and Nunhead Community Council on 30 September 2013. Peckham Vision supported a deputation to Cabinet on 22 October 2013 of some of the businesses affected by the developments to clarify the impact of the plan.

September 2013 Scaffolding in Blenheim Grove

The exterior of the shops number 12 – 16 Blenheim Grove (between the station forecourt entrance and the first railway arches) is being renovated - repaired and painted – the first for a long time. The owners, a small property company called Roundmen Limited, have these premises on a long lease from Network Rail. This work has been planned for some years. They lease the shop on the corner of the station forecourt entrance, number 12, to the owner of the hairdressers who were there till last year. Latest information is that he is refitting it for another hairdressers. The shop next door to that in the arch leading to the station entrance, with a double shuttered front, is leased by Network Rail to someone else and will in a few weeks open as a delicatessen with refreshments.

Station restoration news August 2013

The latest news is summarised in Peckham Vision's community information news sheet August 2013. This covers the work on the original staircase, the Old Waiting Room, the station square and rear (the Council's Gateway project).

June 2013 Station restoration latest

Staircase restoration: most of the planning and permission work to complete the restoration and extend the staircase has now been done. The next stage is to raise another approx £50,000 to pay for the restoration.
Old Waiting Room: plans are being developed for raising the funds (approx £750,000) for final restoration and also for interim uses for the room as it is, once the staircase is extended to give access from the forecourt. The room cannot be hired until then.
Station Gateway project: the Council is developing plans for the design and development of the new front square and new commercial spaces at the back of the station. There is not yet satisfactory information about the consultation and timing on the development and the plans.

January 2013 Station restoration news

The latest news is summarised in Peckham Vision's January 2013 community information news sheet Peckham Town Centre News. This covers the work on the original staircase, the Old Waiting Room, the station square and rear (the Council's Gatway project), and the historic builings in Rye Lane and the High Street (the Townscape Heritage Inititative project).

2012

November 2012 staircase being revealed

Work has started this week to open up the windowsto reveal the original iron and stone staircase in the SE tower in the forecourt. They were bricked up over 50 years ago.

October 2012 Latest news on the station square project

The money has been acquired and the plans are now being developed. The aim is

to complete the restoration of the Old Waiting Room;
to remove the shopping arcade in front and recreate the square;
to create access from the front of the station on the ground floor to the rear of the station, and create lift access to all 4 platforms;
to refurbish the arches to the rear of the station (behind Bar Story) so that they can be let for town centre purposes;
to buy out any leases, and to organise and pay for the relocation of any businesses that need to move
Sometime early next year the Council and Network Rail will reveal what they think they can achieve with the £12m+ in terms of those aims and ask for the public's views.

The plan would be to complete the works by 2015/2016. First 'spade in the ground' might be late 2013 or early 2014 perhaps. In the meantime, the current restoration of the Old Waiting Room, led by Peckham Vision and Benedict O’Looney Architects, is continuing. The next stage is to unbrick the windows in the two towers in the forecourt and restore the original staircase so that towards the end of 2013 it will enable some access to the Old Waiting Room.

2nd to 4th August 2012 The Old Waiting Room in use again

entering the Old Waiting Room at last from platform 3

We had a non-stop stream of visitors to the 3 day exhibition, about Peckham town centre in the Old Waiting Room, as part of the Peckham Cultural Olympiad. Over 600 visitors all keen to know more about the Old Waiting Room, the station restoration, the new public square and the town centre generally. It is clear that there is great local enthusiasm for the planned changes. See more for an insight into the magical experience for three days.

27 July-10 August 2012 Peckham Cultural Olympiad

From the brochure: "This is a collection of some of the thoroughly exciting events that are taking place in the ever-lovely Peckham over the time of London’s Olympics. We are a collective of organisations and individuals, all with the aim of creating and exhibiting artistic projects of Peckham. We hope to see some new faces in our spaces, enjoying the events and getting to know those that have made them happen. Details in the brochure 'Peckham Cultural Olympiad', which gives individual contributors' websites for further details on timings of events and locations." Peckham Vision's exhibition in the Old Waiting Room is a contributor to the Olympiad.

8th June 2012 Exhibition 2-4 August in Old Waiting Room

Peckham Vision is arranging an exhibition about the town centre in the Old Waiting Room in Peckham Rye station on 2nd – 4th August as a Peckham Rye Lane contribution to the Cultural Olympiad. There will be talks and more each day.

Exhibition times: Thurs 2nd Aug 5pm – 9pm. Fri 3rd Aug 1pm – 9pm. Sat 4th Aug 11am – 3pm. Volunteers are needed for a few hours during the afternoon or evening on Thurs 2nd Aug or Fri 3rd Aug, or morning or afternoon on Sat 4th Aug? To find out more, email: owrexhibition@gmail.com. Read more…

14th March 2012 Rail industry support for community initiatives

This was a fantastic community meeting celebrating recent achievements for Peckham town centre. Over 200 locals from Peckham's diverse social, economic and ethnic communties crowded in to the CLF Art Café in the Bussey building, to hear the latest news from Peckham Vision and the Council. Senior figures from Network Rail, Southern Railway and the Railway Heritage Trust voiced their support for community initiatives at Peckham Rye station in Peckham town centre; see video clip.

17th January 2012 Community exhibition & meeting on 14th March

For latest news on all the new developments at and around the station and discussions about the future come to the community meeting on Wednesday 14th March 7pm, exhibition from 4pm, see details here.

2011

23rd November 2011 Station Square to be restored

The London Mayor announced between £3-5m to help restore the square in front of Peckham Rye Station and to complete the restoration of the historic station building. Southwark Council to match funding. Peckham Vision is in discussions with the Council about the detailed work schedule which will take several years to complete. See more