Peckham Town Centre Forum
Introduction
The Peckham Town Centre Forum is an informal gathering of people in different roles, who are keen to improve Peckham Town Centre and have energy and enthusiasm, who get together to share ideas and take actions. Local residents come together with architects, urban designers, business people, artists, gallery owners, creative entrepreneurs and others, with ward councillors, and Council officers from town planning and other departments with roles relating to the town centre. This enables a continuing dialogue which is leading to more informed actions. The meetings are generally in the CLF Art Cafe in the Bussey building [see picture] in the heart of the Copeland Cultural Quarter. The Forum emerged in December 2009, from discussions in the Rye Lane & Station Action Group – see below.
Forum meetings
Since then there have been several well attended meetings in the CLF Art Cafe in the Bussey Building. They have confirmed the well of enthusiasm and energy and ideas waiting to be tapped for town centre revitalisation. Open Space and other participative processes are used to encourage the development of ideas, networking and the nurturing of contacts for self-initiated actions.
So much happened during 2011 after the previous meetings there was no time to write it up in detail for the website. See some of it for Peckham Rye Station here. All those developments have now been reported at the 14th March 2012 meeting.
Previous meetings:
- 14th March 2012
- May to September 2011
- 7th April 2011
- 19th February, 17th & 31st March 2011
- 27th & 30th November 2010
- 23rd October 2010
- 13th July 2010
- 22nd April 2010
- 18th March 2010
- 23rd February 2010
- 16th December 2009
For the details from each of these meetings including the minutes read more
Emerging themes
- improving the public realm now by better joined-up working on Council's town centre responsibilities
- retail security & commercial potential
- creativity, entrepreneurship & commercial regeneration
- local energy and food production
- town centre physical fabric revitalisation, especially restoring and benefiting from the historic buildings
- facilities for young people
- how all these matters relate to health & well being
- linking to New Peckham Experiment, and following up the stimulating seminar held on 22 April
- linking of community initiatives for overall sustainability
These emerge through the meetings and their follow up, and developing the contacts made through the Forum.
Other useful material
- Life today in Peckham
See and hear everday life in the shops and streets in Peckham town centre from local resident and cook Helen Graves' blog.
- "Secret hall beyond Platform 3 holds key to Peckham's future?"
"A waiting room left hidden on platform three of Rye Lane Station could be the key to unlocking future investment in Peckham..." A double page article in Southwark News 9 June 2010, looks at the role of the hidden historic gems in the town centre in attracting new commercial investment. "Like something out of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter, this enormous space opened as a waiting room in 1865 and was turned into a billiards hall in 1890 until it closed in 1960. Forgotten, over the years this space was left to fall into disrepair. It has only recently been opened to the public (albeit briefly), but for those wanting to attract future investment into Peckham town centre the space represents a way forward. Read the article.
- Preserving Peckham
..."Did you know that some of the houses in Peckham were once 19th century holiday homes for rich merchants? Or that there are buildings in Peckham High Street that date back to the late 16th century?..."
Read SLP 22 June 2010 report on Preserving Peckham - fight to protect Town's historic buildings, page 1, and page 2 here
- Peckham Vision - "an important force for change'
In an article in August 2010, the Architects Journal "...juxtaposes a top-down development in Elephant and Castle with ground-up localism in Peckham". It says: Localism can, and does, improve the quality of the built environment by enabling professional skills and community ideas to coalesce. For example, Peckham Vision, a consortium of residents, artists, businesses and The Peckham Society, campaigns for a renewed Peckham town centre. The consortium is an important force for change... Read More
Peckham Town Centre Forum Origins
The Peckham Town Centre Forum emerged from the October 2009 meeting of the Rye Lane & Station Action Group, in the CLF Art Cafe in the Bussey building [see picture] in the heart of the Copeland Cultural Quarter. As well as an update from Southern Rail on plans for improving the station accessibility, Peckham Vision and the Council Planning Policy officers presented their respective ideas about the town centre and the revitalisation process. In the discussions, there was a lot of energy to find ways for the dialogue on revitalisation to be a continuing one instead of stop and start at occasional meetings. This would enable those, who have enthusiasm and energy, to get together to share ideas and take actions.