Borough, Bankside and Bermondsey

Borough and Bankside Social Regeneration Charter

Over the last two decades, Southwark has seen a variety of regeneration programmes delivered which has enabled us to rise from the 12^th most deprived Borough in the UK (out of 326) to the 41^st. We want to continue this improvement and to continue to explore the best possible ways of improving the life chances for our residents.  

What is a social regeneration charter

A social regeneration charter is a tool for creating a common vision and programme to improve the well-being of residents in and around an area. In the Autumn of 2017 the council carried out our largest ever community engagement exercise, the Southwark Conversation (see feedback report and further analysis) to explore local perceptions and experiences of the regeneration that has taken place in the Borough over the last decades. We had almost 3,000 responses which has guided the creation of the Regeneration That Works for All Framework and the Social Regeneration Indicators which was approved by Cabinet in January 2019 and paves the way for a series of social regeneration charters to embed our regeneration for all principles throughout the borough and facilitate implementation of the framework’s commitments at a local level. Charters have been created for Canada Water and Old Kent Road.

Why Borough and Bankside

Borough and Bankside have experienced waves of redevelopment over the last two decades which have included the opening of the Globe Theatre (1997), arrival of the Jubilee Line extension (1999), the creation of the Millennium Bridge and the opening of Tate Modern (2000), and the completion of Thameslink works to Blackfriars station and Borough Market (2012). A further wave of development is now anticipated with the planned construction of Borough Yards, Bankside Yards, 18 Blackfriars, Southwark tube over station development, Landmark Court, 1-5 Paris Gardens, 25 Lavington Street, Blackfriars Crown Court, 133 Park Street, and 185 Park Street. This charter will help guide investment planning and partnership working to maximise the benefits from these new developments for local people.

Creating the charter

This area has a wealth of stakeholder organisations whose history dates back to 1106 and includes in age order Southwark Cathedral (1106), United St Saviours (1541), Southwark Charities (1603), Blackfriars Settlement (1887), Coin Street Community Builders (1984), Living Bankside (1997), Bankside Open Spaces Trust (2000), and Better Bankside (2005). The development of these community, business and amenity organisations organically over time has created a rich seam of knowledge and research about the physical, social and economic makeup of the area. The first step in the process to create a charter has been to organise a “road show” with ward councillors to meet each of the partners, in order to develop a library of research documents for the area and to discuss themes where partnership working and expenditure of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) could unlock further improvements to the well being and life chances of residents.

Bankside Library

There is such a wealth of research work that has been carried out by partners in recent years, and the library of documents below has been referenced. If you know of other useful documents, contact us.

• Bankside, Borough and London Bridge characterisation study
• Bankside, Borough and London Bridge Opportunity Area Framework draft ^{(PDF, 3.6mb)}
• Bankside Green Infrastructure Audit
• Bankside Insight Document
• Bankside Urban Forest Strategy
• Bankside Neighbourhood plan research
• Borough High Street conservation appraisal
• Central London Walking Network
• Childhood obesity in Southwark statistics ^{(PDF, 1.6mb)}
• Guys and St Thomas’ Charity Data Gallery
• Lavington St, Ewer St and Great Guildford St study
• Liberty of the Mint conservation appraisal
• Light at the end of the tunnel ^{(PDF, 2.8mb)}
• Low Line Horizon Study ^{(PDF, 13.3mb)}
• Southbank and Waterloo Neighbourhood Plan
• Southwark Open Space Strategy
• Stoney Street study
• Thrale Street conservation appraisal
• Union Street conservation appraisal
• United St Saviour’s Grants history
• Walk Elephant mapping routes to the river

We want to hear your views

Cabinet approved a draft version of the charter on 7 April 2020 - view the charter and tell us what you think. We've developed four themes and 8 promises and want to hear your views. These are the four themes:

• goal 1: Maximise our social capital by harnessing community energy to integrate people and organisations through shared amenities and affordable housing
• goal 2: Celebrate our unique heritage and culture with careful visitor management
• goal 3: Build resilience by improving greening and air quality
• goal 4: Focus on well being through healthier lifestyles and active travel

We're not currently organising any public events for the consultation due to the COVID-19 situation, but do plan on organising a series of events to explore the four themes in detail for this consultation when the government guidelines have changed and social distancing is no longer advised.

Put your in the pin the map

Alongside the charter, the council has launched a call out to all local residents and stakeholders for project ideas to improve their neighbourhoods which could be funded by the local Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) using a new easy to use Commonplace website tool until 31 May 2020 which allows people to drop a pin in a map of their ward.

If you have any questions about the charter, contact:

Dan Taylor
Programme manager
020 75255450

Page last updated: 01 August 2024