Peckham Rye Station - rebuild

[healey]

It's a good scheme. The buildings in the old square are a mess.

LameDuck: "They regenerated Deptford train station last year pulled down the front elevation."

They will be clearing some 1930s buildings out of the old square. The station itself will be restored to its former glory.

[healey]

JDR Wrote:

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> Anyway, just heard that the councils plans were

> discussed this afternoon and a few locals attended

> with feedback. The councils plan appeared to be

> showing them clearing all of the land for vacant

> possession but this will not be happening. There

> has been some community protection agreed for

> local enterprises....

> Relayed from Peckham Visions Facebook page ( look

> yourself for full detail as I can't cut and paste

> on this device...)

Does this mean they'll struggle to clear out the old square? If so then that's a shot-sighted disaster. Sorry to sound hard-hearted to anyone affected but the building in the square is a mess and needs removing.

[JDR]

It hopefully means the front will be cleared but under the arches along Blenheim not....

[Charles Notice]

So all of Steptoe's yards will remain as an eyesore.

The whole area around the station needs to be sorted out. It has great potential and fiddling around the edges wont help.

[Louisa]

A train station is an important gateway to any community. I personally love what's been made of Brockley station, it retains many architectural features but it's really open and light too. Lovely little independent coffee shop on the station platform too.

Louisa.

[JohnL]

I'd much prefer a Costa to another Betfred or Paddypower or the 2x Money Shop we have.

Nothing against them, but I will never use those shops.

The new Greggs has a little space to sit down I noticed.

ryelane Wrote:

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> was posting this more to highlight how they were

> planning to clear all the business along blenheim

> grove, not just at the front of the station.

> but as you say that plan seems to have been

> (temporarily) defeated!

>

> i agree the space in front of the station isn't

> used to its full ability. hopefully a rebuild of

> it won't bring in costa coffee...

[sallyfran]

I think they have done a great job with the Crystal Palace station refurb - gives an indication of how much better PR could look.

[lameduck]

I do hope they return it to the beautiful building that it was originally

thankyou Healey. I believe it was a snooker hall above the train station around the war.

I also would like the chain stores to come back to Peckham. But the clientele has changed

and the shops have gone with the flow. Peckham now has no interest to me to go shopping in

as an older person. I have to go to Bromley etc, I would rather spend my money locally.

[alice]

rye lane is a wonderful thriving street - uplifting in fact - love the fantastic vegies - 4 auberguine for ?1 - everything - no boarded up shops, empty shops - its a model for others to follow small businesses very few chains music bustle brilliant but thats me [and the throng that shop there]

[Jessie]

I love Rye Lane as it feels like a million miles away from the rest of identikit high streets in the UK

[The Minkey]

I do most of my shopping along Rye Lane, I also welcome the opening up of the station area.

[alice]

yes so do I - its all the businesses behind the station that are going to be affected [chucked out] that concerns me

[lameduck]

Jessie Wrote:

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> I love Rye Lane as it feels like a million miles

> away from the rest of identikit high streets in

> the UK

I agree and do not want the likes of next matalan etc, would love the shops that used to be in rye lane

marks and the lovely shoe shops and the lovey ladies dress shop that was up by choumert road I could list many more.

not dozens of shops all selling cheap veg fish and meat and phone cards and hair salons.

[LondonMix]

Sometimes I wonder what people are on about. Rye lane has more chains that Lordship Lane. Lots of fact food chains (McDonald?s, KFC, Subway, etc) , pharmacy chains (Superdrug etc), and retail (Primark / Clarks / Argos)?

Brixton is an example of how restoration can work. There are a lot of chains in Brixton (including M&S / H&M) and a thriving independent scene as well as ?ethnic? grocers as some have called them.

[Girl82]

I read this person's comment on the Peckham Vision Facebook page - I hope this won't be the case:

Julian Kenny: "I read the Council Agenda. They wanted authority to negotiate with the traders around the station to terminate their leases. Now they don't have that authority. Great result. We seem to working hard to make sure nothing happens."

[Girl82]

I also have to agree with this comment:

Sian Therese To Peckham Residents Network

I suspect that there are few residents of Peckham, and frequent users of Peckham Rye Station, that think the current access arrangements to the station are attractive. I feel very sad that a busy public location like this has remained for many years in this dirty and run down state.

I support the network's desire to seek clarification from the council, and this would certainly include a better understanding of how current businesses can be relocated successfully, but the email sent by the network sounds hostile and confrontational.

If the council is willing to work with local people (in a radical way) to revitalise this important community asset then lets grasp this opportunity. There is no reason for the cleared space outside the station to be "sterile" as suggested in the network's email. I have no desire for Peckham to return to the days of the 1880s. Nor do I want the odd potted plan in the space made available (I think we had a couple of those a few years ago and they became glorified litter bins).

The Peckham Residents Network can work with the council to guide what sounds like a fabulous opportunity to bring this area into the 21st century

Lets not blow this opportunity and waste precious community energy.

[Nigello]

My main bugbear with the 'Golden Mile' is that the traffic wardens - usually so very keen to slap tickets on whichever vehicle they possibly can - strangely allow lots of leeway to the shops and to the vans and lorries that keep on illegally parking. What gives?

The bit directly outside the station is grim. There's that Sam Raimi-fied dentist - the one with the dirt-brown paintwork and caged windows - that wouldn't look out of place in 'Saw VI', and the dreadfully grubby hair places, whose lackadaisical stylists discard waste tresses into the street that hobble the poor pigeons.

I'd knock the lot down, preserve and upgrade the station itself and get tough with tradespeople who don't do the right thing.

[MarleyLover]

Agrees with LondonMix regarding how well done Brixton looks, however we have to admit, Peckham Rye Lane is a complete eyesore. I have often have wondered have Enviromental Health forsaken the place - so many terrible butcher shops as well as too many hairdressing salons - who seem to discard their waste directly onto the streets.

I for one hope they bulldoze the lot down, as soon as possible. Rye Lane to me means just squalor!

[LondonMix]

Oh I agree with that-- a lot of Rye Lane is dirty and smelly.

I know quite a few people who were born and bread in Peckham and almost all of them hate that aspect of it. It seems primarily newcomers to the area that find the filth charming in someway! As useful (for the affordability) as some of the traders might be, it would be good to have things more tidy!

[woodland]

It would be helpful to have a well lit, clean entrance to the station. It would also be great if all those shops who regulalry throw rubbish out onto the street were reported and fined.

Rye lane has its good points and shops often arise to meet the needs of the community and sell goods that bring customers and income into the area. Lordship lane now has a fair few gift shops/estate agents and baby shops - which wasn't the case five years ago. Peckham has some lower priced chains, great veg shops and butchers. If what those on this forum seem to be saying - and the communities needs have changed - then maybe it's time to get involved and make the change meet your needs.

[Girl82]

I suppose that while I've been a keen supporter of Peckham Vision's work thus far, I'm concerned that they may have scuppered the council's plans to really make a difference to Rye Lane. If the council will now find it much harder to serve notice on various tenants in the area, then will that mean the regeneration plans won't go ahead or will be hugely compromised?

I await further clarification from Peckham Vision on this - they said they were going to post an update on their Facebook page before the weekend.

[Louisa]

A snub to people who have lived in Peckham all their lives and long for a bit of investment into the station and shopping district. Always the punch line in a joke about Only Fools and Horses, or negatively portrayed in the media, never taken seriously when the people who live and work their want a high street and gateway to the area to be proud of once again. The area along Rye Lane should have enough retail space to serve the needs of everyone. The chain stores we have down there today are not even a glimmer into the areas past, and are not making the most of a large retail opportunity. Why would M&S or Waitrose be so desperate to open up on LL when less than a mile down the road there is so much potential? It's because of the reputation the place has, something which can be changed with this revamp of the station. Please let's not have another decade of indecision.

Louisa.

[Listen up]

Anyone who thinks the shops around Peckham Rye station currently befits an important South London interchange needs their head examining. It is dark, dingy and very busy by where the bus stop is. Fantastic idea to open up the entire square up as it is a very attractive building, that doesn't deserve to be hidden.

[mynamehere]

I think Peckham Vision has the best interests of Peckham and that includes all of you posting here. I haven't studied the ... 20 years? that people in PV have been working to regenerate Peckham but I think I am correct that the Council is acting entirely on the backs of the Blood Sweat and Tears of those years of effort.

I speak only as an observer but I attended the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday when PV forced the council NOT to effectively sterilise the area around the station for developers and chains.

It seems to me that what PV wants having taken the process to this point is to integrate the entire community of Peckham from the historic 1600's frontages that still exist and the amazing history and scandals and stories through the heights of the High Street with the biggest and the best and the whole world coming to see and shop. And also respect and cherish the people who live in Peckham now.

Personally I'd trust PV to maximise and integrate and maintain. The subtlety of the PV group who work free with intellect and passion and love of community is the best partner that the Council could find for regeneration. I hope they work with them.

[Girl82]

From reading through the comments on Peckham Vision's website, it seems the planned 'open public square' in front of the station is still going ahead, which is great.

I hope that means getting rid of the dingy arches and some of the less salubrious businesses like the dentist (which as someone else mentioned, looks a bit like something out of Saw! - and opening the whole thing up!