This week 10, 20, 30 years ago

10 Years Ago

Plans to redevelop Battersea Power station – three decades after it closed – were expected to start the following summer and bring 33,000 new jobs .

The power station’s Malaysian owners, who bought the site less than a month ago, said they would go ahead with the £6bn project after being given planning permission.

The Malaysian consortia made the announcement before helping to launch a huge international trade conference.

The velodrome where Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins began his career said it expected a surge in interest after the cycling superstar made sporting history.

Bradley was invited back to Herne Hill Velodrome, where he started out aged 12, ahead of the Olympics road race and his attempt to win gold in the individual time trial at Hampton Court.

Hundreds of fans turned out at the velodrome in Burbage Road – the last surviving venue used in the 1948 Olympics – to watch Wiggins become the first British cyclist to win the 2,000 mile road race on the big screen.

Community campaigners trying to breathe life into their town centres won a share of £1.5m government aid.

Forest Hill and Sydenham, along with Lower Marsh and The Cut in Waterloo, were each given almost £100,000 under the Portas Pilot scheme.

The plan was spearheaded by retail expert and TV presenter Mary Portas, who launched the project after she reviewed the nation’s high streets.

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20 Years Ago

Fears were mounting for children’s safety after reports of drug dealers leaving needles lying around.

Two youngsters had to be given AIDS tests after being pricked by needles left in a communal garden.

Less than a mile away from the flats where the youngsters lived in Clapham a visit by reporters to a stretch of wasteland found a mass of bloodied needles after reports from residents who said they had watched in horror as dozens of desperate junkies injected drugs into their legs.

They said the wasteland, where they used to put out paddling pools for their children had become a no-go area amid the scourge of drug use.

Major works aimed at sprucing up a borough’s housing stock began.

The £40million scheme involved Durfey House off Edmund Street Southwark and nearby Ayton, Dobson and Habington blocks being flattened to replace homes on the Elmington Estate in Camberwell.

The scheme involved building 232 low-rise homes as part of the regeneration project.

High winds and the late arrival of the Queen failed to dampen the spirits at the official opening of the ‘Gherkin’.

The new Greater London Authority’s headquarters at Tower Bridge was opened by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.

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30 Years Ago

A council’s housing department came under fire from the Government after it emerged that 800 children were living in B&Bs.

Lambeth council blamed the Government for the situation saying that it had not allowed the authority to build new council homes.

Lambeth’s housing committee chairman Councillor Peter Mountford-Smith lambasted the Government for allowing just £5million to be spent on building new council housing stock in 12 months when Government surveyors said £90m was needed.

Town hall chiefs set out a five year pledge to residents about how they planned to provide services in the face of shrinking Government funds.

Southwark council’s ruling Labour group set out plans to let residents chose which services they wanted to be provided as a priority.

The borough’s “Charter” promised to make council departments more accountable to voters and for voters to act as a watchdog to make sure the council was as efficiently-run as possible.

Residents appealed to be given jobs on their own estate.

People on the North Peckham Estate in Summer Road, Peckham urged contractors and Southwark council to let them carry out work needed to refurbish their area.

They said they would try to stop contractors from outside the estate from entering if their pleas fell on deaf ears.

 

Pictured: Pixabay / Mikewildadventure