This week 10, 20, 30 years ago – South London News
10 Years Ago
A&E departments across South London experienced one of their busiest weekends as the temperatures soared.
The London Ambulance Service (LAS) said calls to its control room rocketed as the mercury climbed to about 28C.
More than 6,000 emergency calls were taken, up more than 1,500, an increase of 33 per cent.
Lambeth and Lewisham saw the largest rises in activity.
The LAS blamed the hot weather for the spike and urged people to take precautions.
The Winstanley and York Road housing estates – known as just “Winstanley” by residents – consisted of several tall tower blocks, each in varying states of decay.
But the estate’s position, adjacent to one of Europe’s busiest railway stations, made it prime redevelopment land.
Earlier in the year Wandsworth council announced that up to £100million would be spent on an “extensive” improvement project.
Youngsters from a South London primary school added their support to an anti-youth crime campaign.
Pupils from Holbeach Primary School in Catford were the latest to add their handprint to a giant cloth that would eventually be taken to City Hall and Downing Street.
Set up by award-winning pupils from Prendergast Ladywell Fields College, in Brockley, the 10,000 hands project aimed to promote the City Safe Haven campaign across Lewisham
20 Years Ago
An allotment holder was left devastated after workmen destroyed nearly 30 years of hard work.
Mustafa Akif had lovingly tended his flowers, fruit and veg since 1975, but all his hard work was undone when bulldozers moved in without warning.
Network Rail chiefs were left redfaced when they levelled the retired British Rail worker’s allotment.
The rail company apologised to Mr Akif, whose allotment in Brockley was destroyed by the workmen, who had gone on to the site to erect a fence next to train tracks.
Boat owners were left baffled after they were ordered to leave moorings after using the site for more than a century.
They claimed that they had a right to use the Reeds Wharf site downstream from Tower Bridge.
But Southwark council said it had received complaints from residents living in nearby luxury flats about the noise levels.
The council said that the barge owners had no planning permission to use the site, but the boat owners said they had been using the site since before the planning law was introduced in 1947.
Police stopped scores of drivers in Streatham in a bid to cut down on kerb-crawlers.
Police targeted lone male drivers during the week-long operation, and their details were recorded if they did not have any good reason for being there.
Officers also hoped that the high-visibility operation would disrupt trade at nearby crack houses and force prostitutes from the area.
A total of 129 cars were pulled over as part of the operation in the area, which was a known haunt for street walkers.
30 Years Ago
British Rail (BR) faced legal action after it failed to remove fly-tipped rubbish.
Magistrate and Lambeth Tory councillor John Whelen threatened to use the 1990 Environmental Protection Act to take the company to court after it failed to remove rubbish from land it owned in Hannen Road near West Norwood railway station.
He gave BR just three days to remove the dumped rubbish before acting out his threat to become one of the first to apply for a Section 91 order at Camberwell Magistrates’ Court.
The company said it was investigating the problem, but said it was not always easy to keep its land free from the blight of fly-tippers.
Campaigners demanded speed cameras be installed at a notorious accident black spot.
Members of the Streatham Against the Roads (STAR) group wanted the speed cameras to be set up along Streatham Hill – the most dangerous stretch of road in Lambeth.
Star also called for better pedestrian crossings and filter lights to control traffic turning onto the road from the South Circular Road where there had been 51 accidents recorded in just two years.
Northern line Tube passengers were warned that they faced 12 more years of misery because of Government cuts.
The warning came from Streatham’s Labour MP Keith Hill.
His criticism came during a late-night debate in the House of Commons.
A&E departments across South London experienced one of their busiest weekends as the temperatures soared.
The London Ambulance Service (LAS) said calls to its control room rocketed as the mercury climbed to about 28C.
More than 6,000 emergency calls were taken, up more than 1,500, an increase of 33 per cent.
Lambeth and Lewisham saw the largest rises in activity. The LAS blamed the hot weather for the spike and urged people to take precautions.
The Winstanley and York Road housing estates – known as just “Winstanley” by residents – consisted of several tall tower blocks, each in varying states of decay.
But the estate’s position, adjacent to one of Europe’s busiest railway stations, made it prime redevelopment land.
Earlier in the year Wandsworth council announced that up to £100million would be spent on an “extensive” improvement project.
Youngsters from a South London primary school added their support to an anti-youth crime campaign.
Pupils from Holbeach Primary School in Catford were the latest to add their handprint to a giant cloth that would eventually be taken to City Hall and Downing Street.
Set up by award-winning pupils from Prendergast Ladywell Fields College, in Brockley, the 10,000 hands project aimed to promote the City Safe Haven campaign across Lewisham.
Picture: Pixabay
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