Rye Lane Peckham Conservation Area

For several decades the Peckham Society played an important role in highlighting the heritage value of individual buildings within Peckham. Eventually their work led to English Heritage (now the part called ‘Historic England’) undertaking an extensive Historical Area Assessment of Central Peckham, 2009 [pdf 7Mb].

In more recent years Peckham Vision has built on this work to raise awareness of how these historic buildings have played, and continue to play, a pivotal role in shaping the town centre. Peckham Vision worked closely with Southwark Council’s Design and Conservation Team to prepare the bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the Townscape Heritage Initiative grant.

A further stage in the funding application was the adoption in November 2011 of the Rye Lane Peckham Conservation Area Appraisal [pdf 2Mb]. In April 2014 the Conservation Area Management Plan was approved. Here is the map showing the area in the town centre covered by the conservation area. There are adjacent conservation areas, to the east – and to the west.

The designation of a conservation area means the local planning authority recognises that the area is one of ‘special architectural or historic interest, the character of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance’.

The UK’s planning system requires planning permission to be sought for a range of works to homes and business premises. Where the property is in a conservation area there are additional situations where formal permission has to be granted.

All planning applications have to be made through national Planning Portal

– Applications are considered and decided by local planning authorities. For properties in Peckham this means Southwark Council. The Planning Portal has interactive images of homes and shops to help people identify what work needs planning permission as well as a list of common projects