Station redevelopment – Council responds

The meeting about redeveloping the area around Peckham Rye Station is:
Peckham & Nunhead Community Council WEDNESDAY 12th FEBRUARY at 7pm
at Peckham Academy, Peckham Road on the corner with Lyndhurst Way.

There are signs that the Council is listening – see Cllr Fiona Colley’s email below saying the Council will now ask the GLA to extend the deadline for the planning application (to meet the GLA funding deadlines).  But this is just the beginning of finding a way to put right the mistakes that have allowed this wrong plan to be developed.
Your presence is needed. Please come to this meeting to support the local community attempt to get the right plan for Peckham. Encourage your friends and neighbours to come.

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Fiona Colley‘s response to emails from local people about the station redevelopment:

Dear Peckham Residents
Thank you for emailing me regarding your concerns about the proposals for Peckham Rye Station. I’m sorry I’m unable to reply to each email individually, but there have been a quite lot of emails.

I was at the consultation meeting a couple of weeks ago and I was not happy with the proposals. It was apparent that there is a lot of work to do on the plans. Whilst most people support the work to open up the station square on Rye Lane, there are too many unanswered questions about the extent of further development in neighbouring streets which seemed excessive. I also heard the swell of concern from local people about the need for public toilets in the area, and that is something I’ve told council officers must be looked at in more detail.

One area I felt we really needed far more commitement from Network Rail (as landlord) on was the vision for Dovedale Court at the rear of the station as well as the lettings of future retail spaces around the front of the station. I want a guarantee from Network Rail that the thriving creative industries and independent businesses in the area will form a part of the plans and not be priced out.

The event was intended to give people an opportunity to comment on the early plans, and Southwark Council have heard and taken on board the comments. We don’t want to do this without the support of local people and therefore the council is actively working with Network Rail and the GLA (who are part funding the project) to ensure the next set of plans more closely reflect what residents and businesses want to see.

I support calls for an extension in the time for additional public consultation and engagement on the proposals. One of the conditions of the £5m funding from the Greater London Authority (GLA) is that the project should be complete by Spring 2016 and to meet this deadline a planning application would have to be submitted next month. I believe this is unrealistic and so Southwark Council will be asking the GLA to extend this deadline. I am optimistic that they will agree to this.

I will provide a further update within the next few weeks to let you know how things are progressing.
Kind regards
Fiona

Cllr Fiona Colley
Cabinet Member for Regeneration & Corporate Strategy
Labour Member for Nunhead Ward

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