This week 10, 20, 30 years ago

10 years ago

A community hoping to breathe new life into a town centre has lost out on Government cash.

But the Forest Hill Society (FHS), has vowed to carry on fighting for local business. The society, local traders and Lewisham council worked on the bid for one of a dozen £100,000 grants launched by TV shopping guru Mary Portas in March.

Successful bidders needed to demonstrate how they could make their town centre the hub of the community. FHS chairman Richard Hibbert said: “It would have been a fantastic opportunity if we had been one of the towns chosen.

“Everyone got behind the bid and as a result of all the hard work, we’ve set up a fantastic traders’ group, a market and launched lots of other initiatives to boost the town centre.

“We knew the competition would be tough as there were only 12 Portas Pilots for the whole country.

“But we have an opportunity to bid again for one of 15 extra Portas Pilot grants which will be chosen later in the year, and three of those will be in London.”

A hospice chief executive has welcomed a Government promise of more money to help fund care.

Care services minister Paul Burstow MP announced the plans on Tuesday during a visit to St Christopher’s Hospice in Sydenham.

Up to £60million will be available for projects across England which will help improve the quality of care for the terminally ill.

Dame Barbara Monroe, chief executive of the hospice in Lawrie Park Road, said Government grants were vital to help improve facilities.”

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20 Years Ago

A rail firm became the first to sponsor its staff to become special constables in a bid to tackle antisocial behaviour on its trains.

Connex paid for 15 of its staff to be trained as British Transport police specials.

They were also given £1,000 bonus in recognition of their agreement to give 200 hours a year as specials.

The move followed a drive led by Camberwell and Peckham MP Harriet Harmon and London Assembly member Val Shawcross to call for more government money to be freed up to make South London trains safer for passengers.

Work to spruce up 29 railway arches in Deptford to attract new businesses was completed.

The £2million project was to provide small independent businesses somewhere to set up.

Artist Harriet Hornby, a 22-year old art history graduate, became the first to move to the site in Resolution Way, off Deptford High Street.

She launched a textile design workshop from one of the newly renovated 1840s archways.

A 100-year-old horse track in a South London park was singled out for praise after a facelift.

The British Horse Society (BHS) awarded the track in Dulwich Park Heritage Route status after Southwark council paid to have it resurfaced.

Praising the work done by the council, BHS Greater London area officer Joyce Bellamy said it was wonderful an important piece of heritage had been preserved for young riders.

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30 Years Ago

Red-faced council bosses were forced to cancel non-essential repairs to houses after it emerged that a town hall faced falling £6million into debt.

Southwark council said its budget showed a massive overspend – but did not know the full extent of the problem because legal cases were ongoing with some tenants.

But it said only jobs that were urgent would be completed while officers investigated the problem.

The town hall said there would be an immediate freeze on all new jobs within the housing department, while anyone successfully interviewed for a post would have to wait for a while before starting work.

The Government warned of a sharp rise in the number of South London families forced to live in bed-and-breakfast accommodation.

The numbers had risen by 8,000 in one year, fuelling campaigners’ calls for an urgent policy review to reverse the capital’s burgeoning housing crisis.

A report by research group London Housing Unit estimated that in Wandsworth, Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham the number of families in temporary accommodation would double to 14,000 by 1995.

A council came under fire for giving its top officers a pay rise of more than 10 per cent while offering a rise of less than four per cent to its rank and file workers.

Fifty Wandsworth council directors were offered rises of up to £8,000 – an increase of 10.8 per cent, and expected to cost the authority £314,500 in one year.

But clerical and admin staff were told they would only be given a 3.8 per cent rise.

Unions called for a fairer cut of the borough’s cash, claiming the budgets had promised a 6.5 per cent pay rise for all workers.

 

Pictured: Wandsworth Council. Credit – LDR Sian Bayley.