Bellenden Residents' Group (BRG)

In December, I saw a planning application notice attached to a post at the Nigel Rd bus stop. It was to install a 3m x 1m advertising panel on the paved area opposite. I was very surprised that it hadn't been dismissed at the start (October) and was dismayed to see that the deadline for comments was only days away. Luckily, I spoke to the planning officer, who extended the deadline, and after emailing my comments on the council website, contacted neighbours and the BRG which thankfully was enough to highlight the inappropriate nature of this kind of installation in that place. Imagine the advertising panel on these photos!

One of our finest historic buildings obscured by an ugly security fence and motor cars in Highshore Road. The building is now used by Royal Mail for the Highshore Sorting Office.

This view shows the pleasant curve in this part of Nigel Road, and shows off well the clean up that the houses had in the Bellenden Renewal Scheme. They were the first in 1999 together with adjacent roads Relf Road and Anstey Road. In this picture the awful street furniture clutter at the junction is well evident. They were the first streets to be chosen for renewal as they are one of the key gateways to the area. It is also unfortunately the key gateway and getaway for the flood of traffic through the neighbourhood rat runs in rush hours.

Just where Rye Lane and Peckham Rye meet at the junction with Nigel Road, there are some attractive terraces of three storey buldings. This terrace has bricks with a rosy glow, and a pleasant curve on the terrace. If only it had been cleaned up on the front before the Renewal Scheme ended, its attractiveness would have had much more beneficial effect as part of the entrance to Peckham town centre. Of course the ubiquitous street furniture clutter is well in evidence in this view.

These old, tired, dirty and bent railings are a legacy from the past. All the railings that have been replaced by new ones were like this or worse. This is why I enjoy the new railings so much everywhere, as I know how much better it all feels to have the awful ones removed and replaced by cheerful and pleasant ones.

This side of Blenheim Grove is all (except for Bar Story) industrial and commercial workshops. It could have been an awful mess. But instead, we have these pleasant brick walls and sturdy railings. They seem to have been there since before the Renewal Scheme. It is Network Rail property. So they may be responsible for creating a pleasant part of the area.

The car park used to have an awful old broken surface. I always like to see the fresh unbroken and clear surface now, on that mad rush to the station to catch a train. I also really like the wide expanse of sky that that car park lets us enjoy. The Council is intent in its Peckham Area Action Plan (PAAP) of removing this car park and having large buildings there that would block the sky, and lose us that feeling of space. It is also an important car park for town centre visitors, that would be lost. Unlike the multi-storey car park it is very well used.

nice new railings and gates replaced the terrible broken ones, that were hanging off dangerously. But the accumulation of various bits of street furniture clutter up the place, as it does in a number of places locally