This week 10, 20, 30 years ago

10 Years Ago

Campaigners fighting to save Lewisham Hospital’s A&E and high-risk maternity services took their fight to the mayor of London.

Dr Louise Irvine, Iain Wilson and Helmut Heib wrote a letter to Boris Johnson urging him to reject Government-appointed administrator Matthew Kershaw’s proposals for a radical shake-up of hospital services across South-east London.

Mr Kershaw was drafted in to save three other South-east London hospitals after they went bust with debts of more than £150m.

In the letter, the campaigners have branded the public consultation into Mr Kershaw’s report a “stitchup” and asked Mr Johnson to write to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt in support of their cause.

A primary school found itself in the middle of a political row over Government plans to invest £1bn into new school buildings.

Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minster Nick Clegg turned up at Corpus Christi School, in Brixton Hill to discuss the funding for schools across the country.

The pair met children and answered questions on topics ranging from what it is like to run the country to which football teams they support. Labour’s Streatham MP, Chuka Umunna, hit out at the visit – two-and-a-half years after the Government scrapped the national school building project.

Charities criticised the Government’s autumn budget statement, claiming it would do nothing to stop the growing number of people being forced to turn to food banks for sustenance.

Charity Family Action’s chief executive, Helen Dent, said there was “very little” in the statement to help struggling families.

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20 Years Ago

A purge on crime in Lambeth paid dividends with 1,800 fewer victims and 1,200 fewer homes burgled in the borough in just six months.

And Lambeth’s top police officer Brian Moore said he was confident figures would continue to fall.

He made the comments at the launch of a three-year strategy to tackle street level crime.

The success was praised by faith groups, the council and the Met, for its focus on the problems of crack dealing and addiction.

Nunhead had become a forgotten part of Southwark, according to residents who lived there.

The Nunhead Community Forum (NCF) said the area had potential to be improved during a visit from a council delegation.

NCF chairman John Gorsuch said it had always been tagged onto the end of Peckham but had a distinct identity of its own.

But the walls of the station had been daubed with graffiti and plots of land owned by the railways had been allowed to fall into disrepair and residents complained that they had been strewn with litter.

Rock legend Mick Jagger was told to move his vintage wine collection or face having it turned into vinegar after the cellar storing it was hit with a massive bill for unpaid taxes.

The Rolling Stones’ frontman was shocked at the news that the company had been hit with a £1.9m bill.

He was told to remove his stock in just one month before the deadline imposed by company administrators.

The rock star was one of around 600 investors who had wine reserves stashed away at the 93,000 sq ft cellar storage facility near London Bridge.

Things turned sour for the company in August 2002 when customs officers swooped on the premises.

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30 Years Ago

Bank staff were taken to hospital after they collapsed at their desks after being gassed by a faulty boiler.

Four members of staff needed medical treatment at the NatWest branch in Balham High Street, while others reported hearing co-workers slurring their speech and others complained of headaches.

In all 16 workers went to St George’s Hospital, Blackshaw Road, Tooting.

All were kept in overnight, while two were kept in for three days.

The first worker’s collapse was put down to stress, but when other started to suffer, the building was evacuated.

South London councils were told to brace themselves for a flood of complaints as households learnt how much council tax they would have to pay on their homes.

People were told they would face bills of between £62 and £1,127 a year depending on a Government assessment of the value of their homes.

Critics said homes in the the area had lost 15 per cent of their value in the 12 months since the assessments but the Government said that this would not be grounds for an appeal.

Valid grounds for complaints, ministers said, would include extensions to homes or the effects of major roadworks near to a home.

Councils also said they would only be able to amend bills at a later date and residents would have to pay up-front.

A council announced plans to hire private tutors after it was ranked bottom of 108 education authorities in the Government’s league tables.

Under the plan, Southwark council planned to ask three private schools in Dulwich to farm out teachers to teach in the borough’s state schools.

Dulwich College, Alleyn’s and James Allen Girl’s School were asked to help.

The new arrangement was expected to be funded through a voluntary group, Southwark Community Education Council.

To begin with the project was to focus on primary schools.