With the recent re-opening of Custom House DLR Station and the Elizabeth Line set to open in December, the Canning Town/Custom House district is central to the next phase of Docklands redevelopment.
There are promises of new apartments, thriving retail parks and tourist attractions creating more jobs and a better lifestyle for local residents. But local residents have often lost out in the regeneration game as it has played out across East London; and it’s no wonder that these residents are approaching this next phase with due caution. On the other hand, they know they can’t afford to let the area carry on as ‘a residue from the past’, as one homeowner put it.
Local residents’ response to this dilemma is PEACH, the People’s Empowerment Alliance for Custom House. With more an 150 members drawn from residents and local businesses, this lobby group was established in order to ‘set an agenda for the future of this community’. Members seek to make regeneration their business – for them to drive and determine its progress, instead of having it dropped on them from on high.
Tarique, a founder-member of PEACH who is also the owner of Sam’s Dry Cleaners & Laundry on Freemasons Road, explained that “we go to meetings, surgeries, schools, we go wherever we need to go. Without PEACH we wouldn’t have got some of the things from the council that we have right now.”
Tarique went on to bemoan the fate of the local high street: “we used to have a high street where we had everything. We had the bakery, post office, butcher’s – anything that you needed you could actually get locally. But we’re not that way now. We’re getting to a point now where we’re very fragmented. So the only few businesses that are going, they don’t meet all the requirements necessary for the residents.”
But, as a result of PEACH’s activity, ”The council now works with us. They’ve given us a charter. It’s not legally binding, but it is something they will give to the developers as a brief that they will need to consider. Another thing we have is the right to return”.
The right to return is crucial for Freemasons Road. It was not granted to people in Canning Town when the developers moved in, and they have been effectively moved on as a result.
“We have now brought it to the council’s attention,” Tarique continued, “that we’re not somebody you can ignore all the time. We’re getting attention simply because in numbers we have strength and we make a lot of noise.
“We made a list of things that should go to developers such as our right to return, affordable rent and so on. Now, while they’re not saying yes we will do that, they’re putting it into the brief that these are the desires of the council.
“Without PEACH,” Tarique concluded, “we would be individuals.”
Let’s hope PEACH’s persistence and resilience will continue to pay dividends.
Newham Council was invited to address points made in this article but no council officer has responded.
