Agenda item

Officer presentation.

Jillian Houghton from the planning projects team within the planning department presented this item.

The officer explained she was leading on a programme of regeneration within the Nunhead area and currently coordinated a number of projects which looked at public realm improvements, working with local businesses, shop front improvements, community engagement and building on the really good festivals that Nunhead already had. 

The regeneration projects are supported by the Mayor’s office, through the Outer London Fund (OLF) and other types of funding like the Pocket Park fund.  The officer outlined that there were strong elements in the Nunhead area which are being built on like the Nunhead cemetery, local independent businesses, good traffic links, and the library as well.  So it was evident there are good community services there.  Jillian also mentioned there was a good established community in Nunhead and there had been an influx of people that had moved into the area which had changed the demographic of Nunhead.

Jillian reported on the number of projects that had been achieved in the programme and what the planning projects team were working on and would continue to work on over the coming year, which is the duration of the regeneration programme.  One of the first things officers worked on with community members was the development of a Nunhead website which had a list of local businesses in the local area that acted as a business directory.  The services they provide included a list of community facilities, information about community groups and regeneration projects.  People took note of the website address: www.lovenunhead.co.uk 

Jillian urged people to look at the website to check out updated information on local events and festivals in Nunhead.  Another project was “bags for life” which was an incentive scheme to encourage people to use these bags instead of plastic bags and to shop locally.

The team were putting final touches to this year’s festival programme and were supporting the free film festival which had taken place in Nunhead and Peckham over the last few years, and was well attended. Jillian spoke about the development of an arts trail, which encourages people to visit an artist’s home in order to view their work as well working with local businesses on arts and music.  Jillian said they had created Nunhead buntings that would be used specially for the festival.  Information dates on local festivals were available on the website.

Jillian spoke about Nunhead’s new businesses and improvements to shop fronts.  The team took on the responsibility of a shop unit which was in state of disrepair where work had to be done both internally and externally.  The shop was used as a drop in centre every Tuesday and was now a pop up shop.  Another regeneration project was Nunhead Green; the team received a lot of community input on what should eventually happen to the space.  Also there were other public realm projects which involved improvements to lighting and resurfacing pavements making it safer to walk in the evening.

Councillor Colley thanked Jillian and her team for all the hard work they had done to make this regeneration project a success.

The chair thanked Jillian for the presentation.