The Community Wildlife Garden is largely maintained by the Friends and our volunteer mornings are usually on the first Sunday of the month. The more volunteers the merrier, so please make sure to come along. If you want to know more about the volunteer days, please email peckhamryepark@gmail.com
Gala Music Festival 2024
The organisers of this yera’s festival are proposing to expand the event from 3 days to 6 days.
Concerns have been raised that the expansion would result in 6 days of disruption for local residents, disturbance to wildlife and worries that the site could not withstand a footfall of up to 50,000 over 6 days. The Park is sill trying to recover from the damage caused by 2023’s 3 day event
The petition on Southwark Council’s website opposing the expansion of the Gala Music Festival (ended 7 January) was fraught with difficulties. Many members couldn’t access the petition to vote.
Local residents have queried exactly how much money the Council received. This cannot be revealed as it is commercially sensitive!, and what benefit there is to the Park.
Some of you may have received a letter from Southwark Council advising you of the renewed planning application for the Flood Alleviation works on the Common and in the Park.
Thanks to your support the previous planning application was withdrawn as the application would have resulted in the loss of several trees in the Park.
The application number is 23/AP/3031 – the documents can be viewed via the Southwark Council planning portal. The list of documents is laborious and many are cross sections of the works. The date for comments ends on the 30th January.
The renewed application is an improvement on the previous withdrawn application – the installation of the southern bund will not involve any tree felling.
However we do have concerns:
We have concerns that there are two ‘pathways’ across the Common – one from Peckham Rye East to the northern bund site for delivery of material, in yellow on the plan attached. Access to the existing path from north to south would be severely restricted. Evidently as these items are part of the works they do not need to be included in the planning application. We feel it is imperative that we know how long these restrictions will be in place as they will impact on use of the Common for events and daily use. We have also queried that as Peckham Rye Common is Common Land is permission from the Secretary of State not required?Part of the planning application involves herbaceous planting near the northern bund. Peckham Rye Common is designated open grassland, not a Park. Although we have been told that this planting will be maintained for a year we question how is it to be maintained in the future? The Park maintenance team is severely stretched and there is no water source nearby. The planting of bulbs in the area of the Common north of the East Dulwich Road would seem to an easier option.So far there seem to be no planning application posters visible near the sites.
The Friends of Peckham Rye Park
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The fete needs volunteers to help set up from 9am, to run the coconut shy and sack races. If you could help out for an hour please contact us at peckhamryepark@gmail.com
We are looking forward to another wonderful fete and dog show this year on Saturday 7th September 2024, 12 til 5pm. As usual you can expect the always popular dog show, sack races, coconut shy, Punch and Judy, the Friends-run stands and stalls such as the Pimms, wine and beer stand, the tea and cakes tent, and the book and plant stalls, along with a variety of other food stands and stalls
The dog show profits are given to charity. All other profits from the fete are spent on projects in the Park or Common, such as the Community Wildlife Garden, Sensory beds and Fernery
DON’T MISS IT!
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THE SENSORY GARDEN. Once we discovered the five beds between the bowling green and the Sexby Garden used to be planted as sensory beds it became a project of the Friends to bring them back to life.
With a contribution from Southwark’s Cleaner Greener Safer fund and hard work by the Peckham Rye Park’s Head Gardener and Friends’ volunteers we have fought the bindweed and maiden hair, dug and mulched and finally planted.
The plants have been chosen to stimulate the senses - tall grasses the wind whispers through, six types of lavender to withstand dry summers providing smell and purple flowers, stachys (lambs ears) for their soft furry leaves. We had barely finished planting when two passers by stopped to touch and smell a curry leaf plant.
The American Garden, located between the Sexby Garden and the Lake, is now open. The Garden has been replanted with trees, shrubs and eye-catching, nectar-rich herbaceous plants of a kind first introduced to Britain through the world famous 18th century seed and plant exchange between Britain’s Peter Collinson, FRS and John Bartram of Philadelphia. The funding of the garden was supported by the US Embassy, Lord Harris, Southwark Council, the Friends of Peckham Rye Park., the Local Postcode Trust and Vindor. The project was overseen by Nancy Coleman-Frank.
With the help of volunteers, Earthwatch, an environmental charity, have planted and will be responsible for a Tiny Forest on the southern edge of Peckham Rye Common,
Southwark Council have now decided in favour of the option that involves community focussed public bowling for casual and competitive games complemented by a bar stocked with local, craft and ethical products.
The feasibility study for which funding was raised by Peckham Lido CIC back in 2016 was finally published in April 2021 (accessible via the Peckham Lido Facebook page)..
The study outlines four options (the fourth of which is to take no further action) and states a preference for Option two which would involve: Heated lido and café, possibly supplemented by a gym and fitness centre; a 125+ years lease from Southwark council with no break or restrictive clauses; and a yearly contribution from the council for capital expenditure.
Option two, the study says, would have a 'greater impact' than the other three options on the Common, which is protected Metropolitan Open Land. Overall development and construction costs are estimated at £6m.
The feasibility study does not mention that, as part of the flood alleviation project works, planning permission has been given by Southwark Council and the Secretary of State for re-landscaping the northern end of the Common (including the site of the old lido) with new pathways and biodiversity areas.
We will keep you informed as and when we hear any news
There has been an increase of visitors to the Park and Common. Unfortunately this has resulted in a widespread increase of rubbish and people have been using the bushes as a toilet. There has also been damage to planting and even plant theft. Please do what you can to impress upon others the importance of respecting the Park and Common and encourage them to take their rubbish home.
The picture is of the signage put up in the Royal Parks.
As a result of the General Data Protection Regulation, which comes into
effect on 25 th May 2018, we are providing this summary of how FOPRP
collects and uses members’ personal data.
Information we collect. We collect your personal details when you join
FOPRP or otherwise provide them to us. The data will include all or some of
the following: name, address, email address, date and method of payment.
Use of your information. We use your information only for the purpose it
was collected, which is to send you the FOPRP newsletter and keep you
informed about matters affecting Peckham Rye Park and Common.
Storing of information. Your information is stored on a secure computer
system. We control who has access to this information. We review what we
hold and delete what is no longer required. If you use PayPal, your payment
details are held securely by PayPal.
Sharing data. We do not sell your data and we do not share it with anyone
outside the FOPRP committee.
Your data, your choice. The new legislation does not require us as a
membership organisation to get renewed consent to use your information,
and our assumption is that you will be happy for FOPRP to continue to hold
and use your data to keep you informed about Peckham Rye Park and
Common. If this is not the case, please contact us by email at
foprp@aol.com or write to us at The Friends of Peckham Rye Park, c/o The
Park Office, Strakers Road, Peckham Rye Park, London SE15 3UA
