‘It doesn’t need regeneration’: Peckham’s charm under threat from gentrification plans

theguardian.com:

There’s a scene in Rye Lane, a film said to be breathing new life into romcoms, where the two main characters stroll past a body-popping white-haired man in a spangly Yves Klein blue cowboy outfit, then continue their conversation sitting in giant high heels outside a shoe shop.

The moonwalking cowboy is an actor, but the shoe shop is real – one of dozens of outlets inside Rye Lane market giving Peckham the personality that inspired the film’s director, Raine Allen-Miller, to treat the south London neighbourhood as a character rather than mere scenery.

How much longer it will be there is another matter. The covered market is part of the Aylesham Centre, a site that developer Berkeley Homes has decided should be the location for 14 tower blocks with 1,050 homes, looming over Rye Lane’s low-rise streetscape.

The course of development never did run smooth. Berkeley’s proposals have been condemned by thousands of Peckham residents in a petition. Southwark council denounced the plans – an unusual step for a planning authority to take before any formal permission had been sought.

Then last week the developer split from its architects, Sheppard Robson, who said they had “collectively reflected” and had “decided with the client that the project requires a fresh start”. Now Berkeley is back to square one, hoping for an architectural meet-cute – or at least a practice prepared to take on its new design brief.

“It’s just profit maximisation,” said Chris Allchin, a member of Aylesham Community Action (ACA), which has been coordinating opposition to the scheme. “This isn’t your classic Nimby kind of thing. People want to see the site developed. People want the housing. There’s not a lot of green space in Peckham so there’s an opportunity