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The Peckham Complex 2013 THE PECKHAM COMPLEX 2013 A Cultural and Social Snapshot of Inner London 2 3 Contents Editors’ Introduction 5 Society 9 Urban Multicultural Life 13 Culture and Creativity 17 Built Environment 21 Economic Development 25 Youth 29 Conclusions 32 Endnotes 34 Historical Timeline 37 Editors’ Introduction The Peckham Complex aims to give an honest portrayal of a complex community. It is not a government or academic report. Rather, it is a snapshot of the area, offering insights into different aspects of people’s lives – cultural, economic, social. We also comment on the relationship between residents and their surroundings, the ways in which cultures overlap and the realities of young people’s engagement in public life. Peckham’s fortunes have fluctuated over the years and its public image has shifted accordingly. Stigmas once attached to Peckham have, in recent years, given way to a better understanding of the area’s development, though this process is far from complete. We do not wish to rose-tint nor denigrate life in the area – we do, however, hope that we can play a role in identifying mythologies and discouraging misconceptions. Geographically, ‘Peckham’ is understood in different ways by different people. Situated in the middle of the London Borough of Southwark and lying in the Camberwell and Peckham parliamentary constituency, the area lies roughly two miles to the south of London Bridge, between Camberwell to the west and New Cross to the east. Our focus centres on the Lane ward and its surrounding areas, including South Camberwell, Brunswick Park, Peckham, Livesey, Nunhead, Peckham Rye and East Dulwich [see map]. Our thoughts developed out of discussions with friends and residents who live, work and socialise here. Every conversation revealed a deep sense of attachment to the area and hopes for its success, as well as an understanding of the challenges that Peckham faces. Much of the research is based on publicly available material, and we have attempted to link to sources and further reading where possible. We intend to build upon this initial work and would welcome any feedback from readers that could feed into future research, as we pursue opportunities for an in-depth project covering all aspects of life in Peckham. We believe that the area would benefit enormously from further study over an extended period, and hope to give a direct voice to parts of the community that currently feel under-represented. If you have any thoughts, share them with us by emailing: [email protected] 5 Southwark Electoral Ward Map 6 7 Peckham is on the move: you can see it, feel it, and sense that the shape of London’s map is soon going to be different. Stephen Bayley, Peckham resident Society Peckham society, shaped over the years by a combination of changing economic fortunes and waves of immigration, has its own aspirations and expectations. Many factors have contributed to the area’s identity – industrial decline and the fragility of the post-war settlement; stigmas attached to its northern estates towards the end of the last century; the emergence of an artistic youthful image in recent years. A diverse citizenry adapts to change, yet a number of groups and individuals continue to experience disadvantage and isolation. Most residents are generally satisfied with Peckham as a place to live. Despite real and perceived worries – levels of respect, clean streets, access to public services – neighbourhood relations are robust. Community members want more opportunities to participate in local decision-making, with concerns sometimes addressed through grassroots initiatives or familial support networks. ‘There’s always been people doing good things in Peckham,’ commented one woman who grew up and continues to live in the area. ‘It’s much more “village-y” now, though we were quite a close-knit community here in the 70s. The 80s were pretty brutal, but there seems to be a spark coming back to it.’ Southwark remains one of the most deprived boroughs in the country, and Peckham is the most deprived part of the borough. There are high rates of economic inactivity and above-average levels of unemployment – Camberwell and Peckham as an area has only three available jobs for every Society 9 four working-age residents. Employment growth has been historically weak and the job market is precarious, especially for younger people. Peckham has a high number of entitlement claimants, many of whom are in work or volunteering, yet recipients of state assistance are at risk of eliciting unsympathetic reactions. Some residents have no qualifications, yet anxieties around ideas of ‘fairness’ and ‘responsibility’ can turn into resentment. In a difficult economic climate, the delivery of welfare risks becoming a desperate scramble for resources. People are concerned about civility and crime in the area – from antisocial behaviour to violent activity. ‘I think Peckham Rye needs updating and maybe some type of rules against littering, especially if you own a shop and a salon,’ one local woman commented. In terms of crime, Peckham is among the 10% most deprived areas in the country. This is frequently understood as a law enforcement issue, but it should also be considered as a symptom of jarring economic and social change. Outbreaks of public disorder, as demonstrated by the 2011 disturbances which affected a number of urban areas across England, can often lead to calls for punitive state measures to reimpose stability. However, Peckham launched a community response, symbolised by the ‘Peace Wall’: thousands of largely hopeful post-it notes on hoardings covering the broken windows outside Poundland. The often-hidden groups in Peckham attract far less public attention, and many are marginalised from community participation. The 1 in 10 people over the age of 65 – some born or married into the area – can feel Society 10 overwhelmed by changes taking place over the decades, though others embrace the area’s development. Mental health admissions in the borough are higher than the national average, and many disabled people and those with long-term health problems experience multiple disadvantages through social exclusion, lack of resources and barriers to work. Refugees are among the most disenfranchised: rules restricting their access to employment, benefits and other services during the application process put them at further disadvantage. As austerity and the effects of post-modernity increasingly prioritise individualism over commonality, Peckham remains broadly inclusive, with residents encouraged to feel ownership of their area. Newcomers and visitors are drawn to Peckham for many reasons, including its facilities and location, but above all its people and their sociability. Though there are serious issues still to address, Peckham society has demonstrated its ability to adapt to social and demographic change. Discontent can be transformed into unified, positive action. Society 11 The reality of living in Peckham, and most probably many inner city areas, is completely different from the picture portrayed by lazy journalists who class it as dangerous and unfriendly. People here are good to each other, generous with their time and resources and smile a lot. Polly Raymond, Peckham resident Urban Multicultural Life As a socially mixed, gentrifying area at the fringes of inner London, Peckham is a diverse, overlapping cultural milieu. ‘Multiculturalism’ as a concept has taken a knock in recent times, eliciting anxious noises from political figures across Europe, in part driven by tabloid editorials bemoaning its perceived failures. But these criticisms fail to understand the reality of everyday interaction between different cultures in the same geographic space – at schools and surgeries, on buses and trains, in parks and crèches, at the high street or in the workplace. Significant demographic changes took place in the latter half of the twentieth century London, with first generation migrants arriving from all corners of the globe, attracted to life at the edges of a modern metropolis. Newcomers settled in Peckham, joining families resident in the area for generations and those who arrived from neighbouring boroughs, staffing public services, opening businesses, and enrolling their children in local schools and colleges. Changing public attitudes over the decades towards immigration and migrants themselves (some from former British colonies) offered ample opportunity for stirring up cross-cultural tensions. Yet unlike a number of other ethnically-mixed urban areas with high levels of deprivation, the far right failed to find a foothold in local politics. Urban Multicultural Life 13 Peckham continues to welcome migrants from overseas, and a high proportion of current residents were born outside the UK and the EU. Around 4 in 10 pupils in local schools have a first language other than English, with over a hundred different languages spoken in the wider borough. Peckham is now home to a host of nationalities – for example, the largest Nigerian community in the country. Conversations held in Yoruba may resonate in Nigerian-owned businesses and some of Peckham’s newer churches and mosques. Rye Lane’s economy of independent small businesses, whose owners and staff come from different national backgrounds, finds Ghanaian, Kurdish, Caribbean, and Afghan outlets successfully operating alongside each other. ‘There is no tension here,’ commented a longtime Kurdish stallholder beside one of Peckham Rye’s railway arches. ‘I work here for 10 to 11 hours a day and I love it. A lot of my customers are African-Caribbean, so I get to find out all about their cultures.’ Urban Multicultural Life 14 In recent years, Peckham has undergone a degree of gentrification, increasing both business rates and house prices, and altering its image. For London’s economically better-off, many holding graduate-level jobs, the relative affordability of property (in newly-built private apartments, for example), and good transport connections to central London prove highly attractive. Many newer residents are working to win greater recognition for their neighbourhood, challenging externally-imposed narratives around ghettoisation and supposed stagnation.
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