This week 10, 20, 30 years ago
10 Years Ago
Mum and their young children made a heartfelt Valentine’s Day plea to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt not to downgrade their hospital.
A flash mob of parents with buggies marched up to Mr Hunt’s office in Whitehall to protest against plans to cut some services at Lewisham.
They delivered a bouquet of baby socks to his office – each attached with labels detailing cases of children who were born or cared for at the hospital.
At the end of last month, Mr Hunt announced he was adopting the recommendations of a government-appointed administrator to strip Lewisham of its children’s A&E and obstetrics services and downgrade its A&E department.
The redevelopment of a former greyhound stadium could be kickstarted as a preferred developer has been approved by the Mayor of London, we reported.
The Catford Stadium had been left empty for 10 years. This site is owned by the Greater London Authority.
Planning permission was granted in 2008 for a mixed-use development on the site for 589 homes and which aimed to provide 1,178 jobs.
However, the plans were scrapped in 2010 after developers failed to get a grant from the Government.
A group of activists staged a sit-in protest to highlight the plight of the elderly who are facing the choice between eating and heating.
Members of the Southwark Pensioners’ Action Group met outside the Hayward Gallery in the Southbank Centre before piling into the Royal Festival Hall waving banners and refusing to leave.
Activist Denise Nicholls told The South London Press: “We are very concerned at the number of elderly people who are actually dying in this freezing weather because they cannot afford to pay their heating bills.”
20 Years Ago
Squatters provoked outrage after setting up squats in several homes worth more than half a million pounds each.
The three-storey, five bedroomed homes were all in Southwark, where 13,000 people were on the council’s housing waiting list.
The mansions were due to be refurbished and turned into council flats but had been empty for more than 10 months before the squatters moved in.
They reconnected the gas supply to the homes and posted threatening posters citing housing laws warning outsiders not to interfere.
Staff shortages meant youngsters were locked out of a ÂŁ250,000 playground during half-term holiday.
The playground on the Tulse Hill Estate had been paid for from the sale of the Dick Shepherd Secondary School site but following a wave of staff sickness, Lambeth council said it had been forced to close the playground for two days at the start of the holiday because there was no one to supervise the equipment.
The playground did reopen on the third day of the half-term break.
Lambeth council warned that it might be forced to put up council tax by 23 per cent. The proposed increase meant that families living in a band D house would be worse of the tune of ÂŁ185 a year.
The Tory/Lib Dem coalition administration blamed the price hike on Labour’s mismanagement of council funds during their five years at the helm in the borough.
The administration said it had uncovered major accountancy shortfalls, which meant the amount of money put aside to pay the borough’s debts had been underestimated by £21million.
Labour said the tax rise was unnecessary and accused the Tory/Lib Dem coalition of raising prices but not introducing more services.
30 Years Ago
Threats to close two fire stations were lifted after an intense four-hour summit between fire chiefs.
Downham and Shooters Hill fire stations faced closure as part of a raft of proposals set out in the Fire Cover Review drawn up in 1991.
The move was tabled as part of plans to save ÂŁ1.8million.
The chairman of the London Fire and Civil Defence Authority Tony Richie said: “There is no way we are going to allow fire stations and front line services to be affected by the review.”
The Government threatened to block plans to put up a human rights sculpture in a park.
The Department of the Environment told London Docklands Development Corporation that if it approved the 60ft tall monument in Potters Fields in Tooley Street, Bermondsey it would consider overturning the decision.
The warning came after the department received a rash of letters from residents opposing the scheme.
The wood and steel sculpture, designed by artist Gerry Judah included lights that flickered in the wind.
But the Tooley Street Tenants’ Association said it would take up too much space in their park.
Hundreds of families were left high and dry after a ruptured mains pipe left them with absolutely no water supply to their homes.
The 200 families living on the Clapham Park Estate had to go without water for drinking, washing, cooking and flushing their toilets after Thames Water switched off their supply.
Four tower blocks were left without a drop as a row erupted between the water company and the council over who should carry out and pay for the repairs.
Instead, standpipes were set up on the estate while the bureaucrats bickered about the job, with many having to make several trips a day.
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