On Thursday 27th July, PEACH assembled a team of Residents, Organisers and Architects and welcomed Cllr Ken Clarke (Cabinet Lead on Regeneration and Deputy Mayor) and Deidra Armsby (Director for Regeneration and Planning) to our office in Custom House.
We were there to discuss the results of the huge public consultation that PEACH has conducted over the past 8 months. Overall 200 people came to our launch, over a thousand doors have been knocked, 170 attendees at workshops and well over 150 1-2-1 conversations. All on the theme: what should regeneration do for Custom House? What would make it a success or a failure?
Out of this we came up with 4 aims and 6 principles for successful regeneration. These can be read here. 70 people came to our Review Drop-In and 81% fully agreed with them, whilst 19% agreed with reservations.
We presented our evidence, explained our work and principles and had a very productive discussion with both Ken and Deidra. The results of this meeting are:
- Newham Council recognised the huge amount of work that PEACH has put in and our role as the voice of the community in Custom House. The Council confirmed that they would work with PEACH as a partner in regeneration in a more ambitious way than usually happens with communities.
- To begin this, PEACH will have 6 x monthly ‘collaborative workshops’ with key Regeneration Officer, Dan Hill. The purpose of this will be to feed in all the evidence and ideas that PEACH has collected in at an early stage.
- PEACH will meet again with Ken and Deidra in October before we publish our report on the Alternative Regeneration Plan.
This is a great start! PEACH will be taking this result back to all our members and continuing to work over the Summer. Tony Subryan, local resident, PEACH Steering Group member and Chair of the meeting said:
“I would like to say a massive thank you to the organisers, architects, and to all the residents who’s continued support and belief of PEACH has resulted in this amazing achievement. It is thanks to all you that PEACH is now seen as a serious player and only real voice speaking on behalf of residents in Custom House.
This agreement with Newham Council is testament to the hard work, time and commitment everyone has shown and this is our success.”
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