Regeneration Begins
 By the early 1990s Peckham was one of the most deprived areas in the country. Only radical action could force a turnaround in the area's fortunes.
In 1994 the council put in a bid for a huge regeneration scheme and was awarded a £60 million Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) grant for a seven year programme to run from 1995 to 2002.
It was to be the biggest scheme of its kind in Europe, attracting millions in additional funding. To run the project the Peckham Partnership was formed. It included private, public and voluntary sector partners.
The scheme was focused on housing with the demolition and redevelopment of the old Five Estates to provide a more human scale environment, reducing density from 3,000 to 2,000 homes and providing housing built on traditional street patterns.
Not just about housing
But it was more far-sighted than that, with the knock-on effects to include reducing Peckham's high unemployment, improving opportunity, reviving an ailing town centre and making the area safer and a more attractive place where people wanted to settle and raise their families.
In the past, Peckham as a whole has been a place where communities have moved into, worked hard but then moved on. Before the big regeneration of the nineties, surveys showed some 70 per cent of residents in the Five Estates area wanted to leave Peckham. After the work this fell to 35 per cent.
The Peckham Programme came into being to support the continued regeneration of the area.
The drive to improve the quality of life for all residents saw several projects come to fruition in addition to the redevelopment of the five estates. The creation of the new town square, with the award winning Will Alsop-designed library put Peckham back on the map.
Future Peckham
 In the short, medium and longer terms Peckham is now due for further change. We are aiming to achieve an excellent place for Peckhamites, the best places and spaces with a focus on improving life chances for people living or growing up in Peckham.
There is no denying the challenges involved in helping to fully regenerate the Peckham Community Council area.
To do this we need to transform the physical appearance of the neighbourhood and harness the strength and creativity of our community for the course of the journey.
We want the residents of SE15 to have a clean, safe, attractive environment with quality buildings, open spaces, arts and leisure facilities and pockets of local interest. We want modern new transport links. From small neighbourhood quick fix greening schemes to the major redevelopment of the centre of Peckham and some 2,000 new homes by 2016 we will work with the community to transform our space.
Short Term Changes
The Peckham Programme is a junction box for all the departments and organisations that look after the safety and quality of the local environment. This includes providing support for the Cleaner, Greener, Safer (CGS) programme and working with partners and the community to help reduce crime and the fear of crime.
Cleaner Greener Safer
Cleaner Greener Safer has an annual budget for projects approved by the community councils. The projects aim to improve the infrastructure or tackle grot spots. Many of these are residents’ proposals. Each small thing makes a big difference for those residents who have asked for the improvement.
Recent CGS work in Peckham includes planting a grove of palm trees to create a tropical traffic island and traffic calming measures in Meeting House Lane. CGS money has also paid for the picnic area in Sumner Park, the new pathway across the Flaxyards site, the communal vegetable garden at Peckham Park Road, tree planting schemes, street hanging baskets and a garden at a residential home for old people.
Tackling crime
Like many town centres, Peckham attracts crimes such as theft. Initiatives that have been successful in tacking crime have included issuing smaller businesses with alert boxes and setting up a Pub and Club Watch for owners, landlords and licensees to keep in touch and find solutions.
Find out more about Peckham Programme’s involvement in tackling crime locally.
Medium Term Changes
As well as keeping on top of day-to-day maintenance and gradual improvements to the local environment, we are committed to bringing about real change and keeping residents involved at every stage.
East Peckham and Nunhead Renewal
After the successful transformation of the Bellenden area, East Peckham and Nunhead were identified as renewal areas in 2005. Work is underway to transform the areas by using a mix of tools to improve housing, revitalising shops, commercial premises, the local environment and infrastructure.
The Wooddene
 The Wooddene estate has been demolished and will be replaced by 2009 with a smart, energy efficient new development of homes to rent and buy and some commercial and community space.
The site sits on one of the main roads through London from the South East and Europe and the aim is a planet friendly building with visual impact.
Station Improvements
Peckham Rye station is due to have a facelift with the first floor windows being restored. Anti-graffiti barriers will be put up to prevent high level graffiti. Low level graffiti is being cleaned off as part of the new cleaning regime, which has transformed the approaches to the station. There is a proposal to open up the area in front of the station and transform it into a piazza. Queens Road station will also get a facelift.
Arts and Sports Facilities
Peckham is considered one of London’s top creative hot spots. A long-time supporter of the development of culture and arts scene in the area, Peckham Programme is currently working with the London University of the Arts to build the Peckham Pier, an exhibition space on the town square and the long awaited Loo with a View, a 10m (30ft) high public convenience.
Future sporting developments include the building of a multi-use games area in Melon Road next to the Pulse with basketball and five-a-side football.
Long Term Changes
We have a once in a lifetime chance to change the face of Peckham, an exciting urban district within a stone’s throw of central London, while preserving our heritage and creating some new and exciting developments.
Major development
There are between 8 and 12 sites earmarked for possible development in Peckham. Much of this space will be used for housing, as our share of government targets.
The Aylesham centre will also be redeveloped, into a bigger and better shopping area.
The cultural quarter
The huge space at Area 10, also known locally as the old Whitten Timber yard, will be redeveloped as an events and entertainment complex, thus completing the transformation of the town square into our cultural quarter.
The bigger picture
Other changes, including new health provision, will come about through the Peckham and Nunhead Area Action Plan. Getting involved in the process is your opportunity to tell us what sort of place you want Peckham to be in ten years time, what you like and dislike about the area, what should be changed and what should stay the same.
Contact us
Peckham Programme
Tel: 020 7525 1021
getinvolvedinpeckham@southwark.gov.uk
9 Blenheim Grove
London
SE15 4QS
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