Southwark News - April 24th 2025

Issue 1734

Est: 1987

EXCLUSIVE

50p

April 24 2025

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR THE OLD KENT ROAD? ROAD?

southwarknews.co.uk

Pages 14-15

IVANOVIC EYES MORE GOALS MILLWALL Page 9

MP times HELP CATCH journey OLA’S KILLERS to police station, as officers having to take bus to KEV’S 36TH RUN! get on beat EXCLUSIVE

IT’S A FARE COP! See page 4

See page 4

See page 6

EVERYTHING YOU Pages 4-5 NEED TO KNOW AHEAD OF THE LONDON MARATHON

2 NEWS Contents NEWS Pages 2-17 OPINION Pages 18-19 ARTS Page 20 EVENTS Page 21 HISTORY Page 22 PROPERTY Page 23 CLASSIFIED Page 24 PUBLIC NOTICES Pages 25-27 SPORT Pages 29-32

By Noah Vickers Local Democracy Reporter A TRIAL which saw high-tech “damp and mould sensors” installed in homes across London has demonstrated that the technology could be scaled up to help tenants tackle poor conditions in their properties, according to an official evaluation of the project.

COULD HIGH-TECH ‘DAMP AND MOULD SENSORS’ TACKLE THE PROBLEM?

The £120,000 pilot scheme, led by City Hall and the London Office for Technology and Innovation (LOTI), supported 16 boroughs with the installation of 155 environmental sensors across their council housing stock.

The idea behind the project was that the sensors would monitor temperature and humidity conditions and provide an ‘early warning system’ to prevent damp and mould from building up.

The devices were highlighted by mayor Sir Sadiq Khan during his re-election campaign last year, and were mentioned in his manifesto.

He said at the time: “If this pilot is successful, I want to roll out thousands of mould sensors all across London, to ensure tenants can hold their landlords to account.”

An evaluation of the scheme, conducted

by LOTI and highlighted by the mayor in answer to a recent question from the London Assembly, found that the sensors “allowed councils to identify at-risk properties earlier, shifting from reactive to proactive management”. This in turn “reduced the likelihood of severe cases, costly repairs, and tenant relocations”.

In addition, the devices allowed for a “more efficient use of housing officer time”, as “remote

Glory Uhunarabona in her family bathroom where mould has steadily grown over eight years

monitoring reduced unnecessary inspections and repeat visits, enabling housing teams to focus on high-priority cases”.

Asked whether these positive results mean Sir Sadiq will now provide further funding to ensure “thousands” more sensors can be installed across London, the mayor’s office did not directly respond.

They insisted however that he was

“committed to expanding” the sensors’ use and would “promote” the technology, in the hope that boroughs and housing associations choose to invest in the devices.

A City Hall spokeswoman said: “The mayor is committed to expanding the use of damp and mould sensors across London, to improve housing standards and ensure tenants can hold their landlords to account.

“He provided £10,000 funding to support the [pilot] project through the winter and will continue to work with boroughs and housing associations to promote this cuttingedge technology to help create a better, fairer London for everyone.”

Aside from the pilot scheme’s more positive results, the sensors’ evaluation report admitted that the devices only provided a “partial picture”, because they “lacked data on other critical factors like boiler usage or ventilation”.

In addition, gaining access to residents’ homes in order to install the sensors is said to have “proved challenging, as many residents were reluctant to engage, hard to contact, or unavailable”.

A Hackney Council representative told LOTI: “It’s been hard to get the damp and mould sensors in… Some people just don’t want to engage with the council, the response is ‘leave me alone’, people say they don’t know when they’re going to be home, just not playing ball.”

The fact that the project didn’t initially cover most of the winter months was also a “limitation” for the pilot scheme, the evaluation noted.

“Due to delays to the start of the project, delivery largely took place during the warmer months, from around April to December, when damp and mould issues were much less prevalent,” according to the report. “This meant councils struggled to make relevant inferences in the timeframe or test the sensors during peak damp and mould conditions.”

However, the extra £10,000 from Sir Sadiq’s office meant that the project was in fact able to continue through the winter months, up to the end of the financial year in March 2025.

£27m pumped into London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s ‘bootcamps for jobs’ Contact us if you have a story on editor@ southwarknews.co.uk

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By Noah Vickers

Employers involved range from big names like Tesco and Transport for London to smaller businesses and public sector bodies like Hackney Council.

According to City Hall, Londoners who complete the programme are guaranteed a job interview, with guidance on professional working environments to help fully prepare them for new roles.

Course structures vary to suit learners already in work, as well as unemployed Londoners and those returning to work after a break.

Bootcamp graduates can progress in a range of occupations, including carpentry, arboriculture, early years, pharmacy, logistics, cyber security and adapting homes to make them greener.

Local Democracy Reporter SIR SADIQ Khan has welcomed £27 million in Government funding for ‘skills bootcamps’ to help “fast-track Londoners into good jobs” while growing the capital’s economy.

The bootcamps will take the form of flexible courses focused on 11 ‘priority sectors’ identified in the mayor’s recently-launched London Growth Plan, including the green, digital and creative industries, along with areas like healthcare, construction and hospitality.

Londoners aged 19+ are eligible to access the training, which lasts anywhere between two weeks and three months.

Issue 1733

Est: 1987

THE FIRST TEENAGERS IN THE UK WERE FROM ELEPHANT & CASTLE

See page 22

Editor: Kevin Quinn Reporters: Issy Clarke, Evie Flynn Sports Editor: John Kelly Sports reporter: Will Scott Arts Correspondent: Michael Holland Digital Transformation Editor: Katherine Johnston Media Partnerships: Anthony Phillips Advertising: Clarry Frewin Design: Dan Martin, Ann Gravesen Finance: Em Zeki - Tel: 0779 883 3758 em@cm-media.co.uk Subscriptions/Announcements: Katie Boyd Managing & Commercial Director: Chris Mullany Managing & Editorial Director: Kevin Quinn Published weekly on a Thursday at: Community Matters Media Ltd 1 Bermondsey Square, London SE1 3UN. News and Sport: 020 7231 5258 Advertising: 020 7232 1639 News: news@southwarknews.co.uk Advertising: hello@cm-media.co.uk Printed by Iliffe Print. Tel: 01223 656500 www.iliffeprint.co.uk

50p

April 17 2025

southwarknews.co.uk

NEGHLI STRIKES AS LIONS SINK PLAY-OFF RIVALS

Sport

SUPER GRAN Kate Southion 1946 -2025

‘I fled Lakanal fire with my baby, now I fear mouldy home could kill my daughter’

See page 4

SCHOOL CRISIS: Southwark has lowest fertility in London

SEN school could take

See page 4

See page 4

The Bermondsey over closed primary battle-axe who stopped at nothing Parents petition to to get school built save their school See page 9

Special feature pages 14-16

The scheme has been running for some years now, but this latest wave will see a 25 per cent annual uplift in funding, and a 42 per cent increase since the Department for Education first allocated the programme’s funding to City Hall in 2022.

Sir Sadiq’s office said that the cash increase will enable the mayor to support more than 7,700 new learners.

“My skills bootcamps will play an important role in helping fast-track Londoners into good jobs in sectors that are key to London’s long-term economic success,” said Sir Sadiq.

“This additional funding will help even more Londoners to access free accessible training and gain the skills they need to succeed. This is even more important given the high cost of living.

“Our goal is to drive economic growth in every corner of our city, raise living standards and ensure more Londoners can access good high-paid jobs, as we work to deliver the London Growth Plan and continue building a fairer and more prosperous London for all.”

For the first time this year, most of the courses can include Level 2 qualifications – equivalent to a grade 4/C at GCSE – as well as the previously provided Levels 3-5, equivalent to A-Levels up to higher national diplomas.

Skills providers and employers can apply to get involved from now until May 27.

City Hall covers 90 per cent of training costs for small and mid-size enterprises to upskill their staff, and 70 per cent for larger employers.

The Southwark News is proud to be the only independent, paid for newspaper in London Southwark News started life as the Bermondsey News in 1987, as an A-4 photocopied sheet of paper and rapidly grew to cover the entire borough and the surrounding area. As the borough grew, so did the newspaper.

It is owned and run by Chris Mullany and Kevin Quinn.

Former reporters for Southwark News, they bought the title in 2002, after the founder Dave Clark died suddenly from cancer four years earlier.

A dedicated team of staff work tirelessly to cover as much of what is going on as possible and strive to ensure that a community-led, independent newspaper can survive and excel in a market dominated by national and multinational media groups.

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NEWS 3

© Free Film Festivals

The 7 best films to see for free at this year’s New Cross and Deptford cinema

Trinder.

When: Sunday 27th April – 7pm Where: Rising Sun Duration: 107 minutes Info: https://freefilmfestivals.org/ event/free-party-a-folk-history-directorqa/

DR STRANGELOVE, STANLEY KUBRICK (1964)

Kubrick’s classic anti-Cold War black comedy features the fallout of a US general’s plans of nuclear attack against the Soviet Union.

The satire is as relevant today as ever, critics say it is improving with age.

When: Wednesday 30th April – 7:30pm Where: Villages Taproom Duration: 94 minutes Info: https://freefilmfestivals.org/ event/dr-strangelove-or-how-i-learnedto-stop-worrying-and-love-the-bomb/

New Peckham nightclub HONOR opens

Wicked

By Louisa Woolf

By Lilly Erwood

A NEW nightclub has opened under the railway arches under Peckham Rye station, aiming to support local DJs.

NEW CROSS and Deptford film festival returns this year from April 25th and aims to bring neighbours together to watch films for free.

The nightclub, named HONOR, held their launch event on April 4th, showcasing some of the best of South London’s Underground scene.

The new, 120-capacity venue is a collaboration between Streatham DJ and producer, Oneman, and Peckham Riviera, the open air venue located next door.

Oneman developed his love for music growing up in South London and became one of Rinse FMs most beloved DJs after joining in 2006.

Speaking to Resident Advisor, Oneman said: “I’m very lucky to be given this opportunity to create a space where the DJ and live culture I love can thrive in the heart of London’s most vibrant community.”

The new opening is an exciting boost to the nighttime industry, which has suffered in the aftermath of the pandemic, and rising costs.

Between March 2020 and December 2023, 1,165 night time economy businesses closed in London, the steepest fall for any region in England, according to data from the Night Time Industries Association.

Oneman added: “The idea for HONOR was initially born out of the want to honour DJs and scenes that I appreciate.

“Not only that, but also the unsung heroes of clubland: the sound and light technicians, the bar and door staff, the promoters, etc.

That’s what built the idea of HONOR, thinking about the whole aspect of what clubland and nightlife is all about, and everyone who encompasses it.”

Keep up to date on events on HONOR’s Instagram.

For over ten years the annual festival has been utilising local churches, pubs, and parks to put on free films.

Whether you’re looking to head downtown with Priscilla, or to Peru with Paddington, the nine-day event caters for everyone.

Most of the viewing venues are fully accessible and where possible all films will have subtitles, but seats will go on a first-come first-serve basis, so you are best to come early. In fact some require pre-booking as they have events linked to them like a drag disco after a show of Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

HERE ARE OUR TOP PICKS:

DEBÍ TIRAR MÁS FOTOS, BAD BUNNY (2025)

Puerto Rican reggaetón phenomenon Bad Bunny’s 13-minute short film

explores themes of culture change, loss, and aging through the lens of his native country.

This is in Spanish with subtitles.

When: Friday 02 May- 5pm Where: Armada Court Community Centre Duration: 13 minutes Info: https://freefilmfestivals.org/ event/short-film-night-debi-tirar-masfotos/

THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT, STEPHAN ELLIOT (1994)

To kick off the festival, head downtown for a dazzling journey through the Australian outback.

This gay cult classic follows the journey of three friends and their pink bus Priscilla, featuring fabulous costumes and an incredible soundtrack.

The opening night viewing is followed by a drag ball disco afterparty at Little Nan’s – make sure you book!

When: Friday 25th April – 7pm Where: Deptford Lounge Duration: 104 minutes Booking required: www.

deptfordlounge.org.uk/whats-on More info: https://freefilmfestivals. org/event/the-adventures-of-priscillaqueen-of-the-desert-and-drag-ball-disco/

THE OLD OAK, KEN LOACH (2023)

From veteran director Ken Loach, The Old Oak tells the story of an unlikely friendship between the landlord of a County Durham failing pub and a Syrian refugee.

Housing is a central theme in this ‘sobering’ film.

The viewing includes a Q&A. When: Sunday 27th April – 7pm Where: The Brookmill Pub Duration: 113 minutes Info: https://freefilmfestivals.org/ event/the-old-oak-qa/

FREE PARTY: A FOLK HISTORY, AARON TRINDER (2023)

Director Aaron Trinders 2023 feature documentary follows the birth of the free party movement in the late 80s and early 90s, exploring the impact it has had on the rave scene today.

Includes a Q&A with Director Aaron

BODA BABES RIDE! LORRAINE CHITTOCK (2023)

A comedy drama following the road trip taken by three women, motorbiking across Africa, with the goal of delivering a motorcycle to a wildlife ranger.

Embellished with an East African soundtrack, the film promises to inspire and empower.

This viewing includes an actor Q&A and drinks at the Villages Taproom bar!

When: Tuesday 29th April – 7:30pm Where: Villages Taproom Duration: 80 minutes Info: https://freefilmfestivals.org/ event/boda-babes-ride-qa/

WICKED, JON M CHU (2024)

Take the yellow brick road down to Eckington Gardens for an outdoor viewing of the colourful screen adaptation of the highly popular stage musical.

A hit with people of all ages, bring a blanket and picnic for this event!

When: Saturday 3rd May – 8pm Where: Eckington Gardens Duration: 160 minutes Info: https://freefilmfestivals.org/ event/wicked/

A FAMILY-FRIENDLY RAVE IS COMING TO THE MINISTRY OF SOUND

This high-energy rave will feature two performances from Artful Dodger, alongside dancers, performers, bubbles, festival sized confetti blasts, and face painting

By Evie Flynn RAVER TOTS, with their tagline ‘throw shapes not toys’, is the UK’s leading family-friendly rave and festival and it will be coming to The Ministry of Sound on Saturday 26th April.

This high-energy rave will feature two performances from Artful Dodger, alongside dancers, performers, bubbles, festival sized confetti blasts, and face painting to create a multi-sensory experience for all ages. All music will be played at child-friendly noise levels.

Saoirse Holland, Director of Raver Tots,

said: “We’re thrilled to be launching our biggest Spring/Summer tour yet. It feels so important this year to take some time out, hit the dancefloor and celebrate life with our loved ones, we’ve pulled out all the stops with our lineups and I can’t wait to see everyone enjoying themselves!”

Date: Saturday 26th April 2025 Time: Earlier Time Slot: 12:30pm – 3:00pm – Later Time Slot: 3:30pm – 6:00pm Location: Ministry of Sound, 103 Gaunt Street, London, SE1 6DP Tickets: Kids tickets from £15 and Adult tickets from £17. Tickets can be booked on Fatsoma.

Poet, Joseph Coelho is judging the contest

4 NEWS

London Marathon 2025

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE LONDON MARATHON: ROAD CLOSURES, ROUTES AND RUNNERS

Whether you’re spectating or running, here’s a comprehensive guide to his year’s TCS London Marathonmand how it will effect Southwark and surrounding areas

By Evie Flynn

Jane Lindsey

THIS YEARS marathon is on Sunday 27th April and is expected to bring more than 50,000 runners and tens of thousands of spectators to the streets of London.

It’s the world’s biggest annual one-day fundraising event and has raised more than £1 billion for charity since it was founded in 1981.

The 26.2 mile route stretches across five boroughs: Greenwich, Southwark, City of London, Tower Hamlets, and Westminster.Starting in Blackheath / Greenwich Park, the route passes through Charlton, Woolwich and Greenwich town centre towards Deptford.

The course then travels through Rotherhithe and Bermondsey before, crossing Tower Bridge to Canary Wharf and Isle of Dogs.

Passing through the City of London, runners cross the finish line 26.2 miles (or 42.2km later) on The Mall in Westminster.

ROAD AND TRANSPORT CLOSURES IN SOUTH EAST LONDON:

There are road and travel restrictions in place on the 27th April to protect the public and runners.

Spectators are warned that parts of the route ate extremely busy, and you may have to wait for up to 90 minutes to board trains at certain stations.

Charlton: At the beginning of the course, runners will take one of three routes: Charlton Way (red start), Shooters Hill Road (blue start), and St. John’s Park (pink start).

Charlton Way and Shooters Hill Road are are due to close at 4am and due to

RUNNER SHOUT-OUTS: An amazing group of Southwark and South East London runners will be running for incredible charities on the 27th. We wish them the best of luck!

Bermondsey: • Jamaica Road (8am-4pm) • Tower Bridge (8am-8:30pm)

Lambros Siolos

re-open again at 2:30pm.

St John’s Park will close a bit later, at 7am and open again at 2:30pm.

Other roads closed from 7am in Charlton are as follows: • Charlton Park Road (7am-2:30pm) • Shooters Hill Road (7am-2:30pm) • Old Dover Road (7am-2:30pm) • Little Heath (7am-2:30pm) • Charlton Park Lane (7am-2:30pm) • Artillery Place (7am-2:30pm) • John Wilson Street (7am-2:30pm)

Jen

from 7am-4pm on Sunday 27th April.

Foot Tunnel: The Greenwich Foot Tunnel will be open south to north on Marathon day, but it will be busy with queues anticipated.

It will be closed north to south between 10:30 and 12:30.

Alternative arranagements are in place on the DLR services from Island Gardens.

Deptford: • Evelyn Street (8am-4pm) • Rotherhithe: • Surrey Quays Road (8am-4pm) • Salter Road (8am-4pm) • Brunel Road (8am-4pm) Residents of the Rotherhithe Peninsula will be able to exit the area whilst event road closures are in place.

This is in conjunction with Bacon’s College on Timber Pond Road, who will provide free, secure, overnight parking on its premises for local residents.

This car park will operate from 4pm on Saturday 26th April to 6:30pm on Sunday 27th April.

Residents can leave their vehicle parked and return on foot at any time during the closure period to collect the vehicle and exit the peninsula.

When exiting the college, the route

Woolwich: • Woolwich Church Street (7am-3pm) • Woolwich Road (7am-3pm) • Trafalgar Road (7am-4pm)

Cutty Sark DLR: Cutty Sark Docklands Light Railway (DLR) station will be entry only on Sunday 27th April. Passengers will not be able to get off trains or leave the station.

Only northbound services will operate.

running so that when the time came to actually ‘train’, I would be ready!”

Donate to Jane’s GoFundMe: gofundme. com/f/jane-v-london-marathon

Kay has pancreatic cancer, which has spread to her back, but running the London Marathon “has always been on her “bucket list”.

Martyn said that “when she (Kay) got offered a place to take part, I started training with her to give her moral support... a slot came up for me so now I am running too!”

They are both raising money for Backcare. To donate, visit: www. peoplesfundraising.com/fundraising/ kayandmartynrunlondon

found the Bede foundation as a way to participate for London.

He said: “I’m less than two weeks away and the hard preparation is almost over. Obviously I feel a bit tired but that’s normal.

I’m looking forward to the start. I always think positive.”

To support Lambros, visit: www.justgiving.com/page

LAMBROS SIOLOS (BEDE FOUNDATION):

Jack, a footballer and coach at the Baller’s

Greenwich: • Creek Road (7am-4pm) Roads in Greenwich will be closed

MARTIN ALLCHURCH AND KAY KAPSALIS (BACKCARE):

JANE LINDSEY (MILLWALL LIONS FOOD HUB):

Jane has been an avid Millwall supporter for over 25 years and will be taking on the marathon to raise funds for the Millwall Lions Food Hub, where she also volunteers.

One of her lifetime goals has been to complete a marathon, entering the ballot every year but always receiving a ‘not this time.’ However, last June she received the long awaited ‘you are in!’

She said: “Not being a runner, I was absolutely terrified by the thought of what I had been offered. However, since June I have trained, starting with the Couch to 5K and continued with the

out is via Timber Pond Road, Poolmans Street, Needleman Street, Surrey Quays Road and Lower Road.

Martin and Kay Martin Allchurch is a 41-year-old lifeguard and swimming instructor who works at Forest Hill Pools in Lewisham.

He is running the marathon alongside an old friend Kay Kapsalis, from Dartford.

44-year-old firefighter, Lambros Siolos, is a keen marathon runner and will be raising money for Bede Foundation in Bermondsey.

Running the London marathon will mean he will have completed his goal of running all six of the major marathons.

He’s already ran Berlin, Chicago, Boston, New York and Tokyo and

JACK SAMMOUTIS (BALLER’S ACADEMY AND SOUTHWARK MAYOR CHARITIES):

Jack Sammoutis

Parking restrictions: If your car is parked somewhere on the route on the 27th April, it will be removed.

Organisers have asked drivers to assist them by parking your vehicle off the route on the evening of Saturday 26th April.

Removals will start at 4am on Sunday 27th April.

If your vehicle is relocated by contractors, visit trace.london to find it.

River services: Thames Clippers will be running services from central London to Greenwich Pier. It’s just a short walk from Greenwich Pier to the start of the race at Blackheath / Greenwich Park.

WHERE TO WATCH:

Lower Road, SE16 (mile 8-9): Lower Road, in between Canada Water and Surrey Quays station has no barriers. It’s easy to spot people and to get close up.

Jamaica Road, SE1 (mile 11-12): From Surrey Quays station, you can quickly make your way to Jamaica Road, by taking a left at the top of Lower Road.

Although it is only 800m for spectators to walk, it’s another 3 miles away on the runners course so it’s a great way to see people twice in 30 minutes.

Tower Bridge, SE1 (mile 12-13): If you head to Tower Bridge early enough, you will have a great spot on the bridge for photo opportunities.

Academy, is running to raise funds for community programmes for families in Southwark, in partnership with the Southwark Mayor’s chosen charities.

These initiatives include sessions for young people, inclusive sports for individuals with disabilities, and mobility and walking sports for older adults.

As part of his fundraising efforts, Coach Jack will be running the London marathon this year to help the Academy reach their goal.

To donate to his page, visit: https:// www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ ballersacademy?utm_term=kwwz2y5RE.

JAMES BELL (GUY’S CANCER CHARITY):

A dad from Camberwell is running and raising money for Guy’s Cancer Charity, in memory of his younger brother Tom. Tom died from bowel cancer on 27 August 2023, after being cared for by staff at Guy’s Cancer

NEWS 5

Centre. He was 41 years old.

Bowel cancer is the third most diagnosed cancer and the second most common cause of cancer death worldwide. Early diagnosis is crucial, as is recognising the early-onset symptoms.

To donate to James, visit: justgiving. com/page/james-bell-1724748009118.

James Bell:

sensitive support, information and advice, for women of colour who have had a cancer diagnosis.

Leeanne said: “This incredible organisation offered me unwavering support throughout my own breast cancer journey in 2020 and 2021, providing a safe space to share, heal, and connect with others who truly understood what I was going through.”

Kehinde said: “When I got cancer in 2022, I just wanted to be healthy.

I made a vow that if I survived, I wanted to be the strongest version of myself I could be and I would be the voice I didn’t have.”

To donate to their page, visit: .justgiving. com/page/bwrlondon2025?utm_ mediam=FR&utm_source=CL&utm_ campaign=016

KEHINDE AND LEEANNE (BLACK WOMEN RISING):

Kehinde and Leeanne are running this year to raise funds for Black Women Rising Black Women Rising UK is the flagship programme for charity The Leanne Pero Foundation, based in Peckham, which offers culturally

Kehinde and Leeanne

KEVIN CAN’T BE STOPPED

Sixty-six-year-old Kevin Downey has said many times that he will hang up his running trainers, but after 35 marathons, he’s running his 36th London Marathon after all this year!

By Evie Flynn HE’S BEEN running in the London Marathon (nearly) every year since the 1980s, missing it only three times in the last 39 years and raising nearly £200,000 for charity.

This year he is raising money for UK Home 4 Heroes, a charity set up by Jimmy Jukes, for veterans who have found themselves homeless or suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“I know I did say I wouldn’t run again after number 35, but I was offered a place in this fantastic charity (Homes for Heroes) and just couldn’t turn it down.”

Kevin has raised money an incredible £180,000 for numerous children’s charities over the years.

He said: “I always run for local charities close to my heart”. He also raises money for local children, such as Rotherhithe girl Maisy Keetch who suffers from

Box office 020 8463 0100 • blackheathhalls.com •

Epidermolysis Bullosa.

Last year he made £5.5k for the MPS Society, in honour of fellow Millwall superfan Harvey Brown. Now, 15, he suffers from the ultra-rare Morquio syndrome, which affects skeletal growth.

Kevin got into running after his daughter Laura was born, as a way to keep fit and it spiralled from there.

“She was born premature. That’s why I started doing the marathons – to raise money for the baby’s unit at St Thomas’ Hospital.”

He’s also ran for Children with Cancer multiple times.

“On the course I always stop off at the Farriers Arms to see my lovely friends for a bottle of Peroni” he said, which is well deserved.

Kevin has incredibly raised over £3,000 for Homes for Heroes already To make a donation, visit his page: justgiving.com/page/kevin-downey-36

What's On 2025 Mark Thompson's Spectacular Science Show

Sun 18 May

Sun 2 Nov Lady Maisery Sat 18 Oct

Sat 18 - Sun 19 Oct

Spooky Men's Chorale Fri 5 Sep

Andy Sheppard Thu 11 Dec Sat 1 Mar, 7.30pm

6 NEWS

By Issy Clarke ROTHERHITHE’S NEIGHBOURHOOD police officers now have to take the C10 bus to get to their beat, after the Met lost their base at Seven Islands Leisure Centre last month.

As exclusively revealed by Southwark News, local officers were asked by Southwark Council to leave their hub in the leisure centre - which has been earmarked for council homes - on March 26th.

But despite being given twelve months’ notice of the council’s plans to re-develop the leisure centre, the force ‘failed to prepare’ for its closure, and officers are now based some three miles away at Southwark Police Station on Borough High Street.

Neighbourhood policing teams do not usually travel by police cars, meaning officers now have to travel to their beat by bike or on the bus – that’s the C10 or 188 routes.

Neil Coyle, MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark asked us to join him recently aboard the C10 to time the route between Borough High Street and Rotherhithe, on what was a surprisingly quiet morning for traffic – it took just over 22 minutes.

Coyle says according to the Met’s own regulations neighbourhood officers need to be no more than 20 minutes away from their beat.

He has accused the superintendent in charge of the local team of “ineptness”, adding he had done “zero preparation” in advance of the leisure centre’s closure.

Politicians from both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have hit out at the Met saying it takes over 45-minutes to walk the three miles from Southwark Police Station on Borough High Street to Rotherhithe.

Local politicians are claiming senior officers were offered the opportunity to open a temporary hub in Surrey Quays Shopping Centre but snubbed the idea, although the Met disputes this. Delays in finding an alternative site for local officers mean Rotherhithe has now been left without a fixed police base for the first time in over 60 years.

Labour councillor for Rotherhithe Stephanie Cryan said the time it took officers to reach Rotherhithe from Southwark Police Station meant the area was losing up to an hour and a half of ‘on the beat’ policing every day.

She said: “If [the police] were based more centrally [locally], they could get more time.

The message it gives to the community in Rotherhithe is ‘you are not very important’.

With the regeneration in the area, there has been an offer of a dedicated police base. But my worry is that when the police get used to being out of the area, they won’t

POLICE OFFICERS NOW HAVE TO GET TO ROTHERHITHE ON THE C10 BUS Rotherhithe councillors Stephanie Cryan and Kath Whittam want the Met to reopen a police office in Rotherhithe as soon as possible

An artist’s impression of the new Canada Water town centre that will be created following the approval

Neil Coyle timing the route aboard the C10 bus come back.

“People are worried. We see crime happening and there has been an increase in phone snatching in Canada Water.

“We get [that] for serious crime, people should still be reporting it to 999, but local police deter local crime. We want the police to know we want them to come back; we want local police and we want them to be here as much as they can be.”

Fellow Rotherhithe councillor Kath Whittam added: “With the explosion in the number of people living in the area, there’s a lot more crime happening and the police need to be here. I think they were quite surprised about the level of concern from the local community at first [but] I think they are starting to understand.”

Liberal Democrat councillor for Surrey Docks, Adam Hood, has suggested using Canada Water Library as a temporary base as Surrey Quays Shopping Centre is also due to be demolished.

Yet although the Met claim they are willing to maintain a local presence, they told the Southwark News in March that a “suitable location” had not been found.

Labour councillors in Rotherhithe have launched a petition to save the local police hub which has received more than 550 signatures so far.

Rotherhithe’s former police station on Lower Road shut down in 2017 and staff covering Rotherhithe, Surrey Docks and South Bermondsey moved to the space

within Seven Islands Leisure Centre.

It meant Walworth was and is the only police station in the borough to have a front counter open 24 hours a day, seven days a week At the time, then-Inspector Jim Cole of Southwark Police said cash saved from the sale of Rotherhithe Police Station would go ‘towards keeping officers equipped with modern technology, allowing them to spend more time working in the local community’.

Coyle said: “The superintendent responsible for ensuring the local team have local space revealed complete ineptness frankly. Despite years of planning, the officer didn’t know the timetable for moving the local team and had done zero preparation. He’d found no new base, had examined no other sites until compelled to, and did not even know when the permanent new base might be available under the Canada Water Masterplan developments.

The 27,000-strong population of Rotherhithe and Surrey Docks is expected to increase dramatically with the construction of the Canada Water masterplan – double by some estimates, with accompanying concerns that this could lead to a spike in crime.

The move to the former Southwark station on Borough High Street, which is closed to the public, places into sharp focus the future of a new police hub originally

Katie Price makes acting debut

promised by British Land when the Canada Water Masterplan was approved, but which ultimately must be decided by the police.

“I have raised these problems with the new borough commander and am awaiting her response,” Mr. Coyle added.

“The police are committed to a new local base and subsequent discussions have stressed the need to move faster in finding an alternative to Seven Islands until a permanent space might be available.”

A Met Police spokesperson said: “We dispute these claims – residents should be reassured that the Met continues to police Rotherhithe.

“Emergency response officers are not affected by the move and neighbourhood officers continue to police their wards.

“We remain committed to working with our partners in Southwark Local Authority to secure an alternative location and we welcome opportunities for this.”

A Southwark Council spokesperson said: “The new Canada Water Leisure Centre being worked on with British Land will open this summer. It was always intended that this would replace the Seven Islands Leisure Centre and we therefore completed the process to give 12 months’ notice of closure in Spring 2024. As part of this process the council also liaised with the police to give them 12 months’ notice on their tenancy, which would end on 31 March 2025. This agreement was amicable

and made in good time.

“The cabinet member for community safety and neighbourhoods and the community safety team are working closely with local ward councillors, MP Neil Coyle and residents to ensure there is visible police presence in the areas the Rotherhithe Safer Neighbourhood Teams are tasked to.

“We are continuing to speak to representatives from the Met to work out what they require from a new alternative premises.

“On top of this, as part of our commitment to increase trust and confidence in the Met locally, we have met with senior police colleagues who have provided a visibility plan – to be shared with residents in due course.

“Further to this we met the acting BCU Commander to highlight our concerns about the Rotherhithe SNT not being within 20 minutes of the wards. We continue to work in partnership with the Met to provide reassurance.

“In the meantime, our next Policing Oversight Board will take place on the 29th April, 6pm at Walworth Town Hall.

This is an independent body the purpose of which is to have oversight of the Police plans for rebuilding trust and confidence in Southwark.”

The petition by Labour councillors can be accessed via change.org under the header ‘Retain a police hub in Rotherhithe’

She will feature alongside the Lion of London Bridge, Roy Larner

By Evie Flynn KATIE PRICE is confirmed to make a cameo in feature film Jackie the Stripper, which also features stars such as Katie Price, Patsy Kensit, Charlotte Kirk and Jamie Lomas.

The film is written and directed by Michael Head, a local man who grew up on the Silwood Estate in Rotherhithe.

He began his career as an actor before moving to stage and film direction.

Another recognisable local face is featured in the film. Roy Larner, dubbed the ‘Lion of London Bridge’ is the hero who fought off Jihadi terrorists and will also have a cameo, saying his well known phrase “F*** you, I’m Millwall.”

Jackie the Stripper is a modern-

day adaptation of Jack the Ripper, with flashbacks to 19th century Whitechapel. It’s described by the cast as an amalgamation of different genres, including comedy, action, horror, and even a few rom-com scenes.

It’s being filmed all over South East London, mainly in Catford and Sidcup.

The film settings include restaurants, bars, and nightclubs.Jackie, played

by Charlotte Kirk, leads the fight back against ‘The Court’, the secret organisation once ran by Ripper.

Jackie’s band of female assassins take it upon themselves to try and disband this court of ‘darkness’.

“On the surface it’s just a bunch of strippers, right? But I love the fact it’s a bunch of badass female, strong

women... taking revenge on disgusting, sleazy men,” Charlotte told us.

The ‘sleazy men’ Kirk refers to include Hollyoaks’ Jamie Lomas and Harry Potter’s James Phelps.

However, not all the male characters are bad guys. Michael John Treanor is playing Ken, a detective who has been kicked off the police force. Treanor said: “Ken gets together with a load of ladies who go against highly powerful men... A bunch of perverts basically and we’re going to get justice against them.”

Michael Head also recently wrote and directed Bermondsey Tales, a comedydrama set in South London’s criminal underworld, starring Maisie Smith.

Kirk and Treanor described what it’s like working as actors under Head’s

Roy Larner (Circled), known as the ‘Lion of London Bridge’, who makes a cameo in the feature film direction: “He’s an absolutely great director to work with. It’s because he’s an actor as well and a writer and a theatre director so he really appreciates the acting and bringing that to it.”

Treanor commented: “It’s been amazing, Michael’s a great guy, he’s

always open to everyones input and ideas. His energy is right up there and he comes to some great conclusions to get the best out of the scenes and he gets the best out of his actors.”

The exact release date is not yet confirmed, however it is planned to be released in October.

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NEWS 9

Ola with a child on his shoulders

Ola Raji

© Met Police

COULD YOU HELP POLICE WITH ‘FINAL PIECE OF THE PUZZLE’ - AND HELP IDENTIFY OLA’S KILLERS?

Shot and stabbed in Peckham ten years ago today - Crimestoppers have now put up a £20,000 reward

By Kevin Quinn TEN YEARS on from the day 21-yearold Ola Raji was brutally murdered in Peckham, Crimestoppers put up a £20,000 reward in a bid to catch his killers.

The family of this innocent man, who was fatally shot and stabbed while cycling home after watching a football match, have appealed for the public’s help to get justice.

The heartache felt by his close-knit family continues, as police have not caught anyone for the attack on Ola on the night of Tuesday, 21 April, 2015.

In a desperate plea for witnesses Ola’s sisters not only spoke of their own personal grief, but the need for people to come forward to protect Peckham as a whole.

Ola’s sisters, Zainab Raji and Ruki Ware, said: “This is a painful reminder of ten years of loss – our family is not going to get that time back.

“When we get together, there is always that sense of something missing. There are children who never get to know their Uncle, who would still be so young even now. The laughter we share is that little less loud. There is a smile absent in the photographs.

“But this is not just about our family. It’s about safety on the streets of Peckham

and the wider south London area. There is no doubt the people who did this once could carry out similar attacks again.

Maybe they already have.

“We are getting closer to the truth – for example, we now know about phone calls Ola received shortly before the attack.

“Just the smallest piece of evidence from any witnesses or those with knowledge of what happened could be enough to put those responsible behind bars and make the streets safer for the entire community.”

Ola had spent the evening at a friend’s house watching a Champion’s League football match between Bayern Munich and Porto.

Later, while cycling on the East Surrey Grove estate, near Commercial Way, he was stabbed and shot in a senseless attack by two men.

Despite the best efforts of emergency services, Ola later died in hospital.

Detectives continue to investigate the possibility that Ola’s attackers left the scene on foot via a cut through from Cator Street, into Sumner Road, before turning into Rosemary Road, heading in the direction of the Surrey Canal Path.

The independent charity Crimestoppers is offering a reward of up to £20,000 for information that leads to the identification and prosecution of those responsible for Ola’s murder.

Police are particularly interested in

Ola Raji at the Olympics speaking to witnesses described as: A female driving a black Vauxhall Corsa in the area between 9:45pm and 11pm on April 21, 2015, and two males who returned to an address in Pear Court, off East Surrey Grove, at 11:10pm that night.

Police have admitted that the investigation into the murder of the 21-year-old student was initially ‘not acceptable’ as it was beset by problems highlighted in a damning report two years ago.

In the report police admitted that three residents overlooking the crime scene were never interviewed.

In 2023 Scotland Yard’s Specialist Crime Professional Standards Unit, which examined the murder inquiry, recommended that the murder probe be re-launched.

Detective Chief Inspector Alex Gammampila, who is now leading the investigation, said: “Ola was an innocent man, in the wrong place at the worst time.

His murder has devastated his friends and family, and those in the local community.

“Ten-years on, we continue to appeal for anyone who has any information to come forward.

“Were you out in Peckham that night?

Were you also watching the football that night, or were you near Commercial Way? Did you see or hear the shooting or anything that struck you as being unusual?

“No piece of information is too small and could be the final piece of the puzzle that leads us to identify Ola’s attackers.”

Alexa Loukas, London Regional Manager at Crimestoppers, said: “As the family of Ola Raji continue their heartfelt appeal for justice ten years after this tragic murder, we want to remind people that his attackers have still not been caught.

“This is deeply unsettling for his loved ones and the local community. That is why, as part of this 10th anniversary appeal we are offering of up to £20,000 for information received to our charity Crimestoppers, that helps lead to the conviction of Ola’s attackers.

“We know that there may be several witnesses who have information but for whatever reason talking to the police is not an option.

“We are an independent charity, separate from the police, and we are unable to identify anyone who contacts

us.”

Anyone with information can call 101 or message @MetCC on X, giving the reference 2597/16APR25. Information, including photos or videos, can also be easily uploaded to the dedicated appeal page.

To provide information anonymously, call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

They are an independent charity, separate from the police. They won’t ask for your name and can’t trace your call.

The reward will only be payable for information passed directly to Crimestoppers and not to the police.

A reward code must be asked for when calling the charity on 0800 555 111.

If you contact Crimestoppers via the online form anonymously, the ‘keeping in contact’ facility must be used, and a reward code must be requested on your initial contact with the charity.

Three individuals were arrested on suspicion of murder. A further two individuals were arrested for perverting the course of justice. However, no further action was taken against these individuals, and no criminal charges were ever brought.

By Issy Clarke

The model they have put forward would see homes put up for sale with the price of each property tied permanently to local incomes.

The model aims to provide genuinely affordable homes on the site which will always remain within reach for local people – delivered by and for the local community.

Welcoming the news of the agreement, Rye Lane Councillor David Parton said: “It is incredibly exciting to be one step closer to having these new community-owned homes in Rye Lane, and Labour

councillors will work closely with London CLT to ensure local residents are part of every step of the process.

“Amidst a housing crisis we need more genuinely affordable homes for local people in our area. Labourrun Southwark Council are already building more new council homes than any other London Borough – including 120 brand new council homes at Flaxyard in Peckham.

“With this Community Land Trust now progressing on Scylla Road, it is clear Labour are delivering genuinely affordable homes for local residents.”

‘Garages to be converted into genuinely affordable homes’ A SET of garages in Peckham are set to be converted into affordable homes for local people.

The project would see 12 new homes built on Scylla Road in Rye Lane ward

by Southwark Council in partnership with London Community Land Trust (London CLT), a community-led affordable housing scheme.

London CLT has established similar affordable housing schemes in Tower Hamlets and neighbouring Lewisham.

10 NEWS EXCLUSIVE

By Evie Flynn SOUTHWARK COUNCIL is set to make a decision next week on whether a R&B, Soul, Alternative Rap and Reggae festival in Southwark Park can take place this summer.

The park is increasingly being used for major festivals, as the council seeks ways to plug holes in its leisure budget so it can fund free community events like the Bermondsey Carnival.

Cloud X festival and Reggaeton, a twoday ticketed event planned for the first weekend of July in Southwark Park, has received more responses in favour of it going ahead than against.

Forty-four responses have been received so far online, with 15 indicating they do not want the event to go ahead and 22 saying that they do.

The proposal made by Cloud X Sound Limited could see the southern-side of the park closed for ten days.

A resident and member of Friends of Southwark Park spoke to the News about previous events that had taken place in the park (unrelated to Cloud X). She said: “When they’ve had concerts in the park, my windows shake. The reason we are worried is the main stage is in front of the elderly residents and church.

“We are not saying we don’t want them to do it, it’s just the fact they say they have to close the park to residents.”

However, it is not only the noise that these residents are concerned about. The choice of location for the festival has also been a bone of contention between residents and organisers.

Another woman aged 75, said: “Not only is there the schools and doctors, but on the south side we have a wild life area and a 1 o’clock club for young mothers and their babies.

“If the council allow this festival to go ahead. It is going to have a very bad knockon effect on the community. Parents will not be able to take their children though the park the schools, they will have to walk them near the main roads.”

Southwark Council have carried out a consultation with local residents between 7th February and 7th March.

While Cloud X have made clear that the

DECISION TO BE MADE ON WHETHER TWO-DAY FESTIVAL WILL TAKE PLACE IN SOUTHWARK PARK THIS SUMMER It could see a combined 15,000 festival goers coming to Southwark Park event will only be using the south side of the park and that the rest of the park will remain open, some people are concerned about potential damage to the grass.

One resident claimed: “We have just had the Oval done because the last event destroyed it. It had rained and lorries got stuck on the said Oval and the cricket part of it was destroyed as well. It cost a lot of money to get it repaired, what for, this event to destroy it again?”

Southwark Park Cricket Club Oval has seen a £25,000 investment so that league cricket matches can return to the park from May, the measures that will be in place to protect it will be discussed ahead of the decision scheduled for April 30th.

Cloud X Sound Ltd was built around a London-based record label and set up by LGBT and POC founders, David Dabieh and Ben Cross.

The founders of the festival are both proud South Londoners. David grew up on the Heygate Estate in Elephant and Castle and now lives opposite Southwark Park

itself on Lower Road, while Ben grew up in Tulse Hill and he now lives in Nunhead.

To raise awareness, Southwark Council has sent letters to 3,572 properties around the park, posting on public notices around the park and holding consultation meetings with local residents.

Organisers have pledged to use tracks to protect the grass and during a recent meeting Cloud X and Southwark Council set out their noise and waste management processes, which includes noise monitoring points and dedicated litter pickers, as well as security on site.

The festival also outlined initiatives to give back to the local community, such as fundraising through compulsory guest list contributions and to allocate 100 free tickets a day for residents. Bar operators and security also aim to have at least 25% of their staff from Southwark.

The festival was originally meant to be three days, but the organisers revised their plans, proposing a two day festival instead: Saturday 5th July will host CLOUD X Festival

Map displaying where the festival good take place: and Sunday 6th July will be Reggaeton Festival.

There is also a reduction in size with fewer stages. Now there is an anticipated capacity of up to 5,000 for Cloud X and 10,000 for Reggaeton.

THE RESIDENTS WHO OBJECTED HAVE MADE THE FOLLOWING DEMANDS:

• Introduce noise level controls • Local residents should get free access • The event should end by 6pm • Use the other side of the park (by cricket cage) and move the noise away from residents • Move away from lake area • Move to the North end • Friday and Saturday only

• Better control on parking and cleaning up post-event • Monetary compensation to residents The earliest possible date the council will make a final decision on whether to grant an events licence will be Wednesday April 30.

A Southwark Council spokesperson said: “Summer festivals welcome thousands to our parks to celebrate and to be together, including many of our own Southwark residents.

“Before any large events the council conducts extensive consultation to inform whether or not they can be permitted - the consultation for Cloud X festival is ongoing.”

The News contacted Cloud X Sound Ltd but did not receive a response.

© Arts Trust

Summer in the Park returns to Greenwich & Bexley

Free family-friendly festivals run until August

By Lily Erwood A COLLECTION of free festivals hosted in parks and squares across Bexley and Greenwich is set to return this summer.

Local families can expect live music and theatre performances, dance and craft workshops, and a wide range of street food across numerous events.

Venues hosting the Summer in the Park picnics include Danson House, Maryon Park, Gallions Park, and Greenwich Park.

Hosted by Arts Trust, who aim to provide positive, accessible activities for young people, each event is free to attend.

SUMMER IN THE PARK PICNICS

The first of the series of picnics will take place from 11am – 4pm on the 22nd June, in Bexley’s Danson House.

Maryon Park Picnic: from 1pm – 6pm on Sunday 29th June Gallions Park Picnic: from 1-6 on

Saturday 5th July Kids can improve their plate spinning and tight-rope skills with circus workshops held on the 22nd June, 29th June, and Saturday 5th July.

Greenwich Park Picnic: held on Saturday 12th July and Sunday 13th July from 10am – 6pm Attendees of the Greenwich Park picnic will receive performances from Aiden Grimshaw, Jamie Grey, She’Koyokh and the Askew Sisters.

Families are encouraged to bring their own refreshments, blankets and chairs to enjoy alongside open air theatre and music performances.

Each Summer in the Park picnic will take place outdoors and the events are not ticketed.

FREE ROLLERSKATING LESSONS AND SILENT DISCO

The flagship Silent Disco ‘SkateJam’ and Street Food festival will return

at a larger scale this year, taking place over four Sundays from May to August in Cygnet Square.

Beginners of all ages and abilities are encouraged to join in. Free skates are provided and professional skaters will be overseeing the operation!

This grassroots initiative won the 2025 London Sports Community Impact Award, recognised for its work in contributing to a 25% drop in youth-related crime during programme weekends, as well as enhancing fitness and reducing social isolation.

THE KEY DATES TO ATTEND THE FREE SKATING EVENTS ARE: Sunday 18th May from 4pm - 8pm Sunday 15th June from 4pm - 8pm Sunday 27th July from 4pm - 8pm Sunday 24th August from from 4pm - 8pm

NEWS 11

Campaigners launch legal challenge against Lambeth Council over Brockwell Park festivals

By Issy Clarke

Photos of Brockwell Park taken after the festivals last summer, 2024

Protect Brockwell Park issued the council with a pre-action letter giving notice of their intention to launch court proceedings on April 9.

Campaigners are challenging the council’s decision in March to grant a certificate of lawful development, which allows largescale private events to take place in the park without needing planning permission.

The group, which argues the park is ‘under threat’, first launched a petition last summer, demanding an end to what they call the ‘fencing off and damaging’ of the public space. The petition attracted nearly 3,000 signatures.

Since then, residents, and regular park users - who say their concerns are being ignored - have been crowdfunding to support their cause.

So far, the campaign has raised more than £30,000 to cover legal costs.

Bridgerton star and Lambeth resident Adjoa Andoh even waded into the controversy, taking to X on March 11 to voice her support for the campaign, commenting: “We are a poor borough but shame on you @lambeth_council for not

@richardwillq)

CAMPAIGNERS FIGHTING to protect Brockwell Park from large-scale private events have launched a legal challenge against Lambeth Council.

protecting the park better.”

They claim the park has suffered from repeated damage due to major events such as Mighty Hoopla and City Splash.

Issues they highlight include HGVs driving across the grass, an influx of 180,000 festivalgoers over just six days, and events held in heavy rain. Other concerns include polluting generators

running around the clock, security lighting disrupting the park’s natural darkness, and the impact of waste and overflowing toilets.

The group’s crowdfunding page states: “We have repeatedly raised our concerns with Lambeth Council, but our voices have fallen on deaf ears.

“Lambeth has ignored petitions that

have garnered thousands of signatures, local residents’ distress, and the adverse ecological impact on the park over the years.

“The Council has also failed to properly follow correct procedures and properly consult with local residents.”

Lambeth Council have pointed out that the LGBTQ+ community really get behind

events like the Mighty Hoopla saying when heavy rain hit last year putting the much-loved festival in jeopardy the community lobbed heavily to make sure it went ahead. This and festivals like City Splash, which Lambeth says is “much loved by our Black communities and beyond”, help “cross fund south London’s flagship free community festival, the Lambeth Country Show.” Locals are also eligible for some free tickets for these paid festival events through a ballot.

Last year the char of the Friends of Brockwell Park called for a Glastonburystyle break year. The festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset, usually takes a break every five years, otherwise known as a ‘fallow year’.

Last year, roughly 130,000 revellers descended on Brockwell Park for six days of festivals in just ten days. But City Splash Festival, which occurred alongside heavy rainfall, saw the ground churned up into what locals described as a mud bath. Mighty Hoopla narrowly escaped cancellation but only after organisers laid additional ground covers and layers of wood chips.

A Lambeth Council spokesperson said: “The council has received a pre-action protocol letter in relation to a judicial review claim for Brockwell Park, and are currently considering this.”

12 NEWS

Your chance to get involved in redesign of Guy Street Park

Giovanny Rendon Bedoya

By Issy Clarke LOCAL PEOPLE have been invited to share their views on a series of improvements planned for Guy Street Park.

© Met Police

The designs have been drawn up ahead of plans to construct a £350 million life sciences hub on Snowsfields which could replace the multi-story car park by the park.

The design proposals also include improved accessibility into the park, a re-

By Kevin Quinn POLICE HAVE confirmed that the 21-year-old stabbed to death last week was Walworth man Giovanny Rendon Bedoya and released a picture of him in a bid to get people to come forward.

The attack on Hillingdon Street, just off John Ruskin Street, in an area that sits between Walworth and Kennington, took place at around 9.16pm on Monday night April 14.

In a chilling statement Detective Chief Inspector Kate Blackburn, who is leading the murder investigation, said police received a flurry of 999 calls “reporting that a young man had been stabbed and a number of people were seen carrying knives.”

Five men and a woman all aged in their 20s were arrested shortly after the incident, but three of them have been released with no further action to be taken and the other three have been released on bailed pending further enquiries.

Police are now re-appealing for witnesses as Giovanny’s family are being supported by specialist officers.

DCI Blackburn said: “We believe

surfaced sports court and a new ‘picnic and contemplation garden’ where the play area currently is.

There could also be a new ‘fitness zone’ designed for children older than eight and adults next to the sports pitch.

You can find out more about the new proposals at a consultation in the park on Thursday 24 April 12-6pm or online.

People can share their views wwwdocs. google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfdM wDZV4syHRYK47Wp4LNNwd72XhaNmPwkVc79wPWF6w2tg/viewform?

MAN STABBED TO DEATH IN WALWORTH NAMED Food hall could be coming AS GIOVANNY to Tower Bridge this year RENDON BEDOYA there were many people in the area who saw the group, who haven’t yet come forward to speak to police.

“Were you in the Hillingdon Street area on Monday evening? Did you see anyone acting suspiciously? Did you see anyone carrying a knife? If so please contact police.”

Officers and ambulance crews had raced to the Hillingdon Street and found Giovanny suffering from serious stab injuries. He was treated but was sadly pronounced dead at the scene.

DCI Blackburn added: “Our thoughts remain with Giovanny’s next of kin at this incredibly difficult time.

“Following the incident, we immediately made six arrests. Out of the six people arrested, three have been no further actioned and three have been bailed pending further enquiries.

“I would now like to appeal to the public for information. Please, if you saw, heard or have any footage following this incident then please come forward. Your information can significantly help our detectives with their investigation.”

The acting borough commander, Detective Superintendent Emma

Bond, said local people would see an increased police presence in the area over the long Bank Holiday weekend: “I recognise that this incident has caused deep concern across our communities.

“I want to reassure you all today that we are working around the clock to find the perpetrators of this attack and to bring them to justice.

“You can expect to see an increased police presence in the coming days and we have more neighbourhood officers on patrol in the surrounding areas this week.

“If anyone has any concerns then please do approach these officers, or their local neighbourhood teams, as we are here to help.

“I want to reiterate what DCI Blackburn has said, and urge anyone who has any information about this incident to contact us on via 101 stating CAD7392/14APR. Alternatively, to remain 100% anonymous you can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

“Thank you all for your support and our thoughts and prayers go out the family and friends of the victim involved.”

The investigation remains ongoing.

By Evie Flynn STREET FOOD market operator, Blend Family, plans to open its first London food hall in this new ‘net zero workspace’ next to Tower Bridge at some point this year. They currently run food halls in Cambridge, Sheffield, and Manchester.

The development known as TBC.London is a sustainable 110,000 sq ft office space, which is being built out of former office block on the southern side of the bridge.

They have said they will serve a variety of authentic street food from all across the world. The Blend Family currently work with over 70 different vendors and said their mission is to promote entrepreneurial chefs and to create vibrant cultural hubs for the community.

Blend Family have agreed a lease with developer FORE Partnership and TBC. London to occupy 16,000 sq ft on the ground floor building.

The TBC.London development will also have a 3,500sq ft community space on the

ground floor for local groups to use free of charge, which they have called an Urban Village Hall.

Matt Bigland, CEO of Blend Family, said: “Our food halls offer guests a trip around the globe one dish at a time. In each of our spaces, we create a diverse and vibrant community hub.

“We are looking forward to welcoming people in and are so excited to be bringing this experience to such an iconic London location, next to Tower Bridge. We can’t wait to contribute to TBC.London’s mission, to strengthen ties within the neighbourhood.”

The exact date of completion has not yet been announced, but developers said it will be in 2025.

NEWS 13

By Cameron Blackshaw

Local Democracy Reporter PLANS HAVE been submitted to build a large high-rise development on the grounds of a former college on the border between Greenwich and Lewisham.

Housing developer RER London submitted the cross borough planning application to both Greenwich and Lewisham Councils last month.

The plans involve demolishing the former Deptford Campus of Lewisham College by Deptford Bridge DLR Station and using the land to build several highrise apartment buildings, the tallest of which would be 31 storeys.

This 31-storey block would become the tallest building in the immediate Deptford area, the current one being the 27-storey Distillery Tower which is located just opposite the newly proposed development site on the other side of Deptford Bridge road.

The new large-scale development dubbed ‘Deptford Bridge’ would contain 903 residential units, with 597 of them located in Lewisham and 306 in Greenwich. Of these 903, 840 would be private units, 40 would be social rent and 23 would be shared ownership.

As well as the residential offering, the proposal also includes plans for

F.A.A.

© RER London/CZWG

PLANS TO BUILD 31-STOREY APARTMENT BLOCK ON SITE OF FORMER COLLEGE A visualisation of the view of some of the new tower blocks while approaching Deptford Bridge on the DLR from the south

several retail and leisure units at the ground and first floor levels of the site, many of which would be located

along the waterside of Deptford Creek. Developers have said that a key objective of the Deptford Bridge

F A ALBIN & SONS

View of Deptford Creek from an apartment in the newly proposed Deptford Bridge development

development is to promote public access to and use of the creek.

Some parts of the former Lewisham

College buildings on the application site are currently used for educational purposes by Goldsmiths College of Fine Arts, which has a temporary lease until January 2027. The new proposal includes provision for Goldsmiths if the university wishes to make use of space within the new Deptford Bridge development.

Developer RER London hopes that Deptford Bridge will be both “an exciting new destination for local people” and that it will make “a significant contribution to housing shortfall in the area”. The proposal, which was submitted and validated by both councils at the end of March, has garnered 12 objections from residents across both boroughs as of April 16.

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14 NEWS

IT’S A 30.4 million square foot regeneration that will take a ‘lifetime’ to finish and completely redraw the map between Bermondsey and Peckham.

But campaigners say that too few people understand the ‘overwhelming’ plans, let alone how the current residents will fit in.

Friday, April 11, marked the end of the recent public consultation period into the Old Kent Road’s future, set out in Southwark Council’s ‘Area Action Plan’ (AAP).

At a recent workshop we visited, to help residents write responses, held by local campaign Save Old Kent Road (Save OKR), there are concerns the council’s consultation simply hasn’t cut through.

“Redevelopment can feel inevitable, but it doesn’t have to be unchangeable.

Whilst it’s unlikely we can stop this project, we can influence it to benefit and protect our community,” a Save OKR spokesperson told us.

Save OKR is a campaigning group of four members set up to empower people in the community through demystifying the language around redevelopment.

The group has held workshops in Links Community Centre and Ormside Projects, sharing resources designed to simplify the complex planning documents and give residents the opportunity to formally share their views while they still have the chance.

They believe that Southwark Council’s public consultation process is flawed, with little true engagement from members of the public and information presented in a way that is far too complex to be accessible for the average person.

One survey question, certain to baffle many, reads: ‘Do you consider the draft Old Kent Road Area Action Plan to be legally compliant in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Amendment Regulations 2012?’

The level of response to each consultation round has significantly dropped over the years, which campaigners fear is a sign of fatigue and disengagement.

Evie Savini, artist and member of the Save OKR campaign said: “Quite often with these kinds of developments, the consultation and the planning process is really long, which definitely adds to this feeling of long-term inevitability.

“There’s a lot of long, drawn-out work which is especially dangerous because plans can change without people realising.”

The first consultation, way back in 2016, had around 1,200 responses and one in 2017 had just over 750. In 2020, there were 183 responses to another round of consultation, and between 2022-24, just 100 responses to the consultation on the ‘sub-area design codes’.

Savini said: “The whole format of it is so inaccessible. It’s really, really, really upsetting actually. One hundred people is not in any way representative of an area.

“If you go on to the website, the way they frame the consultation, in my opinion, makes it so classic like, oh, this is a nice thing.

“This is an incredibly important document that’s going to have ramifications for decades and decades.”

The council has held four drop

IS SOUTHWARK’S BIGGEST REGENERATION IN A LIFETIME FLYING UNDER THE RADAR? ‘ONE HUNDRED PEOPLE IS NOT IN ANY WAY REPRESENTATIVE OF AN AREA’ - CAMPAIGNERS SAY ‘OVERWHELMING’ OLD KENT ROAD PLANS BAFFLE RESIDENTS

© Photo from Southwark Council planning documents

EXCLUSIVE

By Emily Buckley Bunn

A map of the Bakerloo line extension route, with stations Burgess Park, Old Kent Road and New Cross Gate

in coffee mornings to discuss the redevelopment and one ‘exhibition’ over the six-week consultation period.

The Save OKR team says that these coffee mornings are simply “the lowest amount of effort” with “no kind of impetus at all”, conceding that it is “really hard to get people to spend a significant amount of time filling out a consultation response”.

Save OKR and its team say they have tried to bridge the gap and help people understand the jargon through talking to residents and creating accessible resources with information laid out more simply than in the documents provided by the council.

The council’s two AAP documents – one that focuses on policies and the other, on specific plans for sub-areas – total 126 pages.

The campaign group has already

pushed Southwark Council to change how it ran the consultation survey.

It initially asked people to create an account and share personal details before they could respond to surveys on the proposals, which they said was a significant barrier to accessibility.

The concerns of the campaign are echoed by residents from estates in the heart of the regeneration zone, who question who the plan is for.

Benita Meli, who is part of the Bonamy and Bramcote Tenants’ and Residents’ Association, told us her neighbours are ‘very overwhelmed’; not only by the plan’s physical scale in which buildings will reach heights significantly higher than those of current blocks, but also the huge timespan over which it will take place.

The Old Kent Road regeneration, given the slogan ‘Not any old road’, is

an ‘area action plan’ that involves an extensive 25-year proposal to build 20,000 new homes, double the number of jobs, develop new green spaces, introduce two new ‘town centres’, and build community spaces and facilities.

Divided into two phases, with the second dependent on extension of the Bakerloo Line southwards to new stations at Burgess Park, the Old Kent Road, New Cross Gate and Lewisham town centre, the action plan is not expected to be completed until 2042.

The first consultations for the redevelopment took place in 2016 and the scheme began in 2018. Since then, almost 9,500 homes across numerous new developments have been granted planning permission by Southwark Council, with many already built or under construction.

Old Kent Road has been in use for

over 2,000 years. Once a Roman track into London, and then a pilgrim route to Canterbury in the middle ages, it later became a collage of residential, industrial and cultural spaces. But it is its industrial past that has now made it a prime candidate for regeneration.

Despite its close proximity to central London, the ancient thoroughfare stands out from surrounding areas because of its relatively low density.

Once sitting near the now filled-in Surrey Canal and the railway line, the Old Kent Road was home to major industry in the 19th century including gasworks, timber yards, breweries and the mineral water works.

It was a major target in World War Two due to its valuable industry and infrastructure. Much of the area was destroyed by bombing, and it was rebuilt with a mix of council

NEWS 15 © Photo from Southwark Council planning documents

© Lianne Leung

Old Kent Road today

CGI of planned Old Kent Road flat buildings

‘Redevelopment can feel inevitable, but it doesn’t have to be unchangeable’ Surrey Canal c 1920 (from the collections of Southwark Archives)

Closures during building work in Old Kent Road

housing estates and new industrial developments including storage and distribution centres.

Designated an opportunity area in 2016 by the London plan, the unique composition and location of the Old Kent Road marks it out as one of the last large-scale areas with potential for major regeneration and mass house building within Southwark and inner London as a whole.

Computerised visualisations, created

by Southwark Council, show the future Old Kent Road dominated by over a dozen tower blocks over 20 storeys high, including a 38-storey skyscraper in place of Topps Tiles.

Save OKR campaigners are not the only ones who believe the plans are difficult to grasp.

Southwark Law Centre, the 35% Campaign, and Southwark Group

of Tenants’ Organisation have all participated in the workshops, helping to support residents in making sense of the plans and responding to the consultation.

Locals engaging with the plans are understandably concerned about the scale of them - but also the direction the regeneration is going in. Is it in the interests of the existing community or just a large-scale gentrification project?

In the current iteration of the plans, Southwark Council says of the 20,000 homes to be built, 7,000 will be affordable and 5,000 for social rent.

There are currently over 18,000 people on Southwark’s social housing waiting list including 4,000 people in temporary accommodation.

In data released by Southwark Council in the Southwark Plan 2022

Development Management Policies, 93 per cent of households in the borough were found to have income levels that required affordable housing.

Jerry Flynn, from the 35% campaign, which lobbies for more social housing, said: “These are low numbers, really.

I think everybody really wants to see social rent.

“It’s going to take an awfully long time. It’s half a lifetime and It’s not clear who this really is for.”

The area has the highest proportion of children and young people in the borough – with 25% of the population under 18 – but under the plan, Flynn points out, there will only be a minimum of 20 per cent ‘family homes’ with three bedrooms or more.

Flynn also highlights that in other cases developers have used ‘viability assessments’ to build less affordable housing than promised.

What will developers say is possible amid rising costs and global economic turmoil in two, five or even 10 years from now?

Benita Meli, from the Bonamy and Bramcote Tenants’ and Residents’ Association, said that already she was seeing the impact on current residents and worried about what would happen to the area’s community over the coming year.

Since the AAP began, there has been a lot of disruption caused by building work, with potentially two decades more to come.

“People rely on Surrey Quays and Peckham. While this is going ahead, they have no access because of road closures so appointments have been cancelled,” Meli claimed.

“The disruption together in the area, it’s not going to be just one or two months.”

Having lived in a high rise in the area, Meli said that rising maintenance bills and council tax were already pricing people out of the area. She anticipated further ‘dispersal’ and ‘breaking up communities’, as a result of the plan.

Lianne Leung, a local artist who is also a part of the Save OKR campaign added: ‘All the way down that road, it’s a hub for a lot of different communities, not just artists and people who are here for music but also the Latin community and also the African community.

“It’s such a large space for all these different subcultures to exist and it’s very much an existing community that we can’t just bulldoze over.”

There are also questions around whether the plan is too weighted on private housing and leisure, rather than infrastructure.

In the AAP document, the council writes: “Our plan is to promote the Old Kent Road as a place in which shops, cafés, pubs, cinemas and parks are all within a short 15-minute walk of people’s homes and jobs.”

But do people want this type of new destination? In the plan, there is just one new healthcare centre proposed, despite an anticipated doubling in size of the population of the area by 2042.

Although, as the council points out, the north of the area will also be served by the new Harold Moody Health Centre.

But is it enough?

Susan Crisp, who is involved in the Southwark Planning Network, which is a group of citizens engaged in local

planning activities, told us: “For many, there is a recognised need for change in the area.

“In a theoretical way, I think people are enthusiastic. They know that the area needs change. They want to see more jobs, they want to see more housing.

“The reality on the ground is kind of different. That’s partly because it takes a long time and there’s a lot of disruption and along the way which sort of gets dismissed as if it’s irrelevant and unimportant.

“A lot of small businesses get squashed, rents go up, they can’t afford to be in the area and then that affects what is in the area and how it changes.

“There really needs to be something that benefits the people who are here now.

“Will the people who are kids now see the new park that’s planned? Well, almost certainly not.”

We put Save Old Kent Road’s concerns to Southwark Council. Councillor, Helen Dennis, the Cabinet Member for New Homes and Sustainable Development, replied: “The council’s consultations on plans for the Old Kent Road are designed to ensure that local residents and businesses have ample opportunity to give their views and engage with us in shaping the future of their community.

“The plan has been through three rounds of previous consultation and after each stage, we have amended plans in order to address concerns.

“To date over 2,200 comments have been received and the council has attended over 170 meetings with local groups and individuals to discuss their views.

“At the last round of consultation, 183 representations were made. Of those, 79 per cent supported or partly supported the ambition to provide 20,000 new homes and 10,000 new jobs - while 83 per cent supported the proposals for new and improved open spaces and 75 per cent supported the approach of good quality design and retention of heritage.

“The council is committed to ensuring local people and businesses benefit from regeneration.

“Genuinely affordable housing is front and centre. Over 50 per cent of the homes built or under construction are affordable including over 1,000 social rented homes.

“The council has also approved 120,000sqm of workspace of which roughly 10 per cent is affordable and will support businesses based in the borough. The Mayor’s plan for a ‘Bakerloop’ Express bus down the Old Kent Road will also be paid for by development in the area.

“The current plans for the Old Kent Road set out our intention to create three new parks, and the area is directly benefiting this year from £2.6m of Local Community Infrastructure Levy funding from developers which will be invested in parks, play areas and green spaces including Brimmington Park, Leyton Square, the BMX track on Bird in Bush Road, and Bramcote Park.”

Resources provided by the Save OKR campaign can be accessed through their Instagram @saveoldkentroad.

The survey to respond to the Old Kent Road AAP can be accessed via this link: https://engage.southwark.gov.uk/enGB/projects/old-kent-road-aap Southwark Council confirmed there was a ‘soft deadline’ for the consultation, meaning that responses would continue to be accepted after the stated deadline had passed.

NEWS 17

HITTING FLY-TIPPERS WITH £1,000 FINES Southwark, Lewisham, Wandsworth, Bromley and Bexley councils come down hard on offenders

THE FOLLOWING BOROUGHS TOLD THE BBC THIS WEEK THAT THEY ARE, OR HAVE ALREADY, INCREASED FLY-TIPPING FPNS TO £1,000:

Crimscott Street site in Bermondsey hit by fly-tipping in 2016

By Noah Vickers Local Democracy Reporter MORE THAN half of London’s councils have revealed that they will increase fly-tipping fines to £1,000, in a bid to cut litter levels across the capital.

At least 17 boroughs which previously charged fixed penalty notices (FPNs) of £400 have confirmed that they are, or have already, increased the fine by 150 per cent.

It comes as BBC London reports that some boroughs are also increasing the number of environment officers patrolling the streets to deter offenders.

According to data from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), London saw the single largest number of ‘fly-tipping incidents’ of any English region in 2023/24.

Of the 1,152,617 incidents across England, 444,519 (about 39 per cent) were recorded in the Greater London area.

Since 2023 Southwark residents

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Bexley Brent Bromley Camden Ealing Enfield Hammersmith and Fulham Harrow Hillingdon Kensington and Chelsea Lewisham Redbridge Richmond Southwark Tower Hamlets Wandsworth

were among a number of boroughs to allow residents to report fly-tipping as well as graffiti and potholes through a ‘FixMyStreet’ online app and web service.

Users can use the online service, available on desktops, Google Play or the App Store, to send photos of street maintenance issues to Southwark Council.

Cllr Catherine Rose, Cabinet Member for Leisure, Parks, Streets & Clean Air, said: “Our new online tool is the most direct way to report anything to us that needs fixing, cleaning or clearing on Southwark’s estates and streets. In a short few clicks, you can easily alert the council to an issue and receive an update once it’s been resolved.”

Southwark Council said the platform has performed well in other boroughs, saving money, reducing response times and easing pressure on call centres.

The new app comes after an East Dulwich mum created a similar app aimed exclusively at tackling dog muck.

Lawyer Jenifer Swallow, 46, and her

sons Thomas, 10, and Jacob, 11 created ‘Turd Alert’ because they were sick of stumbling across dog mess each time they left the house.

Bexley Council reportedly issued nearly 1,500 fines for illegal fly-tipping offences a year before increasing the fine to £1,000 last summer.

The authority also gave out over 950 fines for littering in the same time period. Conservative Councillor Cameron Smith said at a Bexley Council meeting last November that £232,000 of funding was being used to add 526 new litter bins to the borough.

The capital’s worst affected boroughs for fly-tipping were Croydon (35,470 total incidents), Camden (34,786), and Hackney (33,464). The least impacted were Islington (1,347), the square mile of the City of London (2,315), and Kingston-upon-Thames (2,935).

Fly-tipping is a criminal offence under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

The ability for councils to increase the maximum fly-tipping FPN from £400 to £1,000 was granted under Rishi Sunak’s Conservative

Government in 2023.

Hounslow Council meanwhile confirmed in a press release on Thursday that they will also be making the change, bringing the total to at least 17 of London’s 33 local authorities.

Hounslow’s cabinet member for public safety, regulatory services and enforcement, Raghwinder Siddhu, said: “It makes our borough look unsightly, the fly-tips are potentially hazardous, and otherwise it is the law-abiding residents that must pay to clean it up.”

The Labour councillor added: “It is simply not acceptable for people to do this. It would be much easier to either

take it to the dump or throw it in a bin.

“So, you either look for a bin, or look over your shoulder, because if you flytip or litter in Hounslow, you will risk being caught and you will be fined.”

According to the environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, fly-tipping is defined as the illegal deposit of any waste on land that does not have a licence to accept it.

Allison Ogden-Newton, from Keep Britain Tidy, told BBC London: “Fines going up is a really good idea because we need a disincentive to the criminals that are carrying out this act, but we also have to catch them, which is no small matter.”

She added: “We’ve been asking for a review of the sentencing guidelines, because although sentences could be much harsher for those that are convicted of fly-tipping, magistrates tend not to issue severe fines and even prison sentences, which they can, because they perceive this to be a victimless crime.

“Anyone who is living in a community that is regularly fly-tipped knows this is not a victimless crime.”

an arm were spotted in bags of gravel delivered to the Church Grove estate.

A crime scene was in place as investigations continued. While the Met said the remains were of “interest” they added that they believe them to be ‘non-recent’.

A new play area for local families was being created when a witnesses said the body parts were uncovered while residents were spreading gravel — with one person reportedly seeing a jaw fall from a bag.

No arrests have been made, and

detectives are continuing to work to identify the remains.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “On Saturday, 12 April police were called at 14:08hrs to Church Grove, SE13 following reports that human remains had been unearthed in a garden.

“There have been no arrests at this stage and officers are working to establish an identity, although the remains are thought to be nonrecent. Enquiries are ongoing and a crime scene remains in place.”

Parents living nearby were left shaken by the incident, with one mother describing the horror of children playing just feet away from the remains.

“Tiny kids were playing right next to literal bits of human arm,” she told The Sun. “You see this stuff on the news, but it was right outside our front door.

“It’s so much more immediate, you just never think something like this will happen so close to you. We are extremely shaken, I think the whole

community is.”

Her husband added: “It was just crazy, it is usually very wholesome vibes here. We all pitch in and grow our vegetables in the shared eco garden — it’s just mind-boggling, completely shocking.”

Church Grove is home to a community housing project run by the Rural Urban Synthesis Society, which is committed to creating sustainable, communityled neighbourhoods and affordable housing across London.

Human remains found in bags of gravel during a community clean-up, as children played metres away

By Kevin Quinn

HUMAN REMAINS were found in gravel near a Lewisham playground last week as children played metres away.

Horrified residents made the grim discovery during a community clean-up event at the playground on Saturday, April 13.

Police were called at around 2.08pm after members of the communityled Church Grove project raised the alarm, when a jaw and fragments of

18 OPINION

Comment ‘My open-door surgery every Friday afternoon’

P

ARLIAMENT WAS recalled halfway through the Easter recess to save the British steel industry.

I’m proud that our Labour Government is willing to make a decisive intervention. Steel is a critical industry for our defence sector but was neglected, asset-stripped and undermined under the Tories. The emergency powers that the Commons granted have safeguarded over 2,000 British jobs. I hope people recognise that this Government will not refrain from tackling challenging issues. Government is not easy but for too long under the Tories, Ministers kicked problems down the road, never resolving matters fully – causing higher costs and difficulties now.

Labour has also shown steely resolve (pun intended!) in efforts to fix the NHS.

Recruiting 1,500 more doctors since October is helping address monstrously long waiting lists. For six months in a row waiting times have fallen as Labour’s action helps people get faster access to healthcare – and I know Guys and St Thomas’ are playing their part.

If you’re struggling to access help let me know, my intervention has sped up treatment for some local people.

I always try to help where I can. My open-door surgery in my Jamaica Road office runs every Friday from 3.30pm for people to raise any issues. I’m proud to have helped 20,000 people in the last parliament and my small team work hard to get results. One gent popped into my Bermondsey office last Wednesday to say thanks for helping sort his Blue Badge and I got a lovely thank you this week from

'We can build a Peckham where everyone has a place to call home’

T

HERE’S A reason the Aylesham development has stirred such deep feeling across our community.

It’s not just another planning application — it’s about who the houses we build are for.

Too many people in our community are struggling to afford decent housing for them and their families. Families wake up each day without a home to call their own, they raise their children in cramped, or poor-quality accommodation, and many wait for years for a permanent home, shuffled from one short-term let to another. That’s the reality for 18,000 people in Southwark — many of them children – who are currently on the housing waiting list.

That’s why I’m unapologetically

pro-housing. I believe in homes being built—at pace, and at scale. Our country needs them. Our community needs them. But the right homes must be built. Homes for nurses and teaching assistants. For delivery drivers and care workers. For young people trying to stay in the place they were raised.

That means homes that people in our community can actually afford to live in.

Building more affordable homes is a step forward after years of developers treating housing as assets, not homes.

But for many in Peckham, even ‘affordable’ is out of reach. Social housing is vital - it’s the only guarantee of a secure, genuinely affordable home for many working people in our community.

That’s why the Government’s ambitious plans to increase house building across this

from

Westminster

NEIL COYLE

MP for Bermondsey & Old Southwark a family who had been overcrowded for years waiting for a new home.

I enjoyed a few days away, taking my daughter to my sister’s caravan in Northumberland, but I used recess for more local meetings. I go out every week in different parts of our community listening to local people, but I have even more time locally when Parliament isn’t sitting.

I met with the police to try and sort out their Rotherhithe base. I want more officers and more powers for

officers, but the lead officer involved in this has failed to ensure the Safer Neighbourhood Team are in the right neighbourhood. The hardworking Rotherhithe officers need a local space to ensure they are visible, accessible and as much of a deterrent to opportunistic crime around Canada Water as possible. I hope a new base opens as soon as possible.

I enjoyed visiting the new Canada Water leisure centre, which is opening soon. This state-of-the-art, accessible

facility has a brand-new swimming pool, a modern 150-station gym and studios for spin, dance and yoga. I didn’t sign up for yoga…! I also visited the amazing ‘Corner Corner’ venue which will be hosting a jazz festival soon and is so much more than an eat and drink space already, with a ‘vertical farm’ and more on site. I’m always proud to serve our community, but these brand new spaces show the Labour council’s ambitions for our area and I encourage everyone to see and use these incredible facilities!

MIATTA FAHNBULLEH

MP for Peckham

Parliament and invest in affordable homes – including the recent announcement of a £2 billion boost for social and affordable housing – are so essential matters. The Government’s plans represent the biggest investment in a generation. And for communities like ours—where the demand is sky-high, and the need is urgent—it has the potential to be transformative.

The funding, part of Labour’s Affordable Homes Programme, will help build tens of thousands of new homes across the country. The money will help councils and housing

associations start new schemes, restart stalled ones, and deliver homes people can afford. Crucially, it will prioritise genuinely affordable, social rent homes — homes which are desperately needed in Southwark.

Southwark Council is already leading the way. It has one of the most ambitious council housebuilding programmes in the country. Over 3,000 brand-new council homes have been started or completed. And this year, 22% of all social homes begun across London were built right here in Southwark.

This new investment can supercharge that local ambition. It can help us go further and faster — for the single parent desperate for a permanent home, for the grandparent living in damp conditions, for the young couple who want to raise their family in the community they love.

This is a defining moment. We have the ambition. We now have more of the resources. What we need is the will to make it count.

We can build a Peckham where everyone has a place to call home. I’ll fight for that future every step of the way.

OPINION 19

How do councils spend cash from park events?

R

esidents fighting to protect Brockwell Park from large scale events threatened Lambeth Council with a legal challenge last week, sending a letter notifying the local authority of their intention to launch court proceedings.

Campaigners want to stop large events from taking place in the park, which they claim has destroyed the land and taken it away from local people.

They point out that even Glastonbury takes a break every five years, otherwise known as a ‘fallow year’, which gives the grass on Worthy Farm a chance to recover.

Beneath the specifics of the dispute lie deeper tensions - between cash-strapped councils desperate to mine their resources after decades of underfunding, young people who want to enjoy themselves in a city with diminishing supply of dance venues, and local residents who feel their concerns have been ignored.

Lambeth Council point out the festivals are popular - they say Mighty Hoopla is favoured by the LGBT community, while festivals like City Splash, which Lambeth says is “much loved by our Black communities and beyond”, help “cross fund south London’s flagship free community festival, the Lambeth Country Show.”

The escalation of the legal fight over Brockwell comes as Southwark Council is due to make a decision in the coming days over whether to allow an R&B festival to take place in Southwark Park this summer.

The main objection raised by opponents of the festival - Cloud X and Reggaeton - is the fear it could harm the cricket pitch, which recently received a £25,000 investment.

But perhaps surprisingly, a consultation run by event organisers yielded positive results - out of forty-four responses receive online, 22 were in support with just 15 against. What makes Southwark Park different to Brockwell Park?

Part of the reason might lie in the willingness of the organisers behind the festival to work with the community - they promised to use tracks to protect the grass and have offered to raise funds for the local area by levying compulsory guest list contributions, and provide 100 free tickets a day for residents.

The event has also been shortened - from three days to two - and been reduced in size after the organisers revised their initial plans.

The debate over Brockwell Park also raises questions around how local authorities spend the income generated by large scale events. If local people knew what the money was going towards, they might be more willing to support these events.

In the coming weeks the News will be probing local authorities in south London on these points - how much money do councils actually make from events such as these, and where do the funds ultimately end up?

CRYPTIC PUZZLE Clues Across

4 It upsets us to be insensitive (6) 8 Calmed down when all agreed (7) 9 Not an upright type (6) 10 He’s a key worker (9) 11 Plots for sleepyheads (4) 13 Spruce up for the wedding (5) 14 They should know the rules of the game (7) 16 Hold it! (7) 18 Mock the noisy bumpkin (5) 19 Muse about the birds (4) 21 Explosives at the sack factory (9) 22 Followed Sue in the end (6) 23 Her telephone call is fishy (7) 24 I’d get in rank more neatly (6)

Clues Down

1 Joint opportunity in space (5,4) 2 Not footwear for sailors! (9) 3 It appears one should look at the manuscript (5) 5 Where one’s liable to get into hot water (4) 6 It’s not so pretty to lure G.I. (6) 7 The sexes are about to take a hundred what intemperance! (6) 9 Times change newspaper articles (5) 11 William fed up with the poster? (9) 12 Let’s have no humbug getting the sailors out of bed (9) 15 54 I’d make black and blue (5) 16 Join me in a small amount (6) 17 Tended to sunder apart (6) 20 He’s revolting (5) 21 Destiny we hear is a holiday (4)

QUICK PUZZLE Clues Across

4 Ratify (6) 8 Part (7) 9 Is of use (6) 10 Servant (9) 11 Encourage (4) 13 Hard structure for biting (5) 14 Distribute widely (7) 16 Expels (7) 18 Harmful bacteria (5) 19 Soon (4) 21 Seasoning (9) 22 Kind of shoe (6) 23 Stupidity (7) 24 Egyptian leader (6)

Clues Down

1 Wellbred men (9) 2 Heed (9) 3 Links (5) 5 Measurements (4) 6 Turn upsidedown (6) 7 Man who rules others (6) 9 Light meal (5) 11 Farthest (9) 12 Sprout (9) 15 Backless seat (5) 16 Fruit (6) 17 Indicates (6) 20 Snake (5) 21 Worry (4)

SOLUTIONS TO LAST WEEK’S CROSSWORD CRYPTIC

Across: 1 Pocket money 9 Ear 10 Christian 11 Limps 13 Fir tree 14 Result 16 Better 18 Treacle 19 Sidle 20 Offensive 21 Ant 22 Alternately Down: 2 Oar 3 Kicks 4 Tariff 5 Observe 6 Emigrated 7 Declaration 7 Endearments 12 Masterful 15 Licence 17 Legion 19 Spent 21 All

QUICK PUZZLE

Across: 1 Comprehends 9 Rub 10 Perimeter 11 Extol 13 Pinnace 14 Horace 19 Editor 18 Noisily 19 Lurid 20 Emulating 21 Tar 22 Delectation Down: 2 Orb 3 Pupil 4 Europe 5 Ermined 6 Detractor 7 Freethinker 7 Freetraders 12 Turpitude 15 Climate 17 Typist 19 Light 21 Too

20 ARTS

REVIEW: SISTERS - BROCKLEY JACK

WHEN I saw the G-Plan furniture and the wallpaper only manufactured now for productions of Abigail’s Party, I knew this was the 70s and thought I was in for a treat. I wasn’t, writes Michael Holland.

This was touted as a ‘Rare Revival’ of David Storey’s Sisters, but I was left feeling that it needed a rare edit to bring it in under two hours.

Storey is said to be the Chekhov of the North, and Uncommon Theatre has been set up ‘to support working-class performers and creatives’, so I thought this was a heavenly match made in the chip shop. I found, sadly, that it was a series of supposedly working-class problems thrown together and performed in northern accents: prostitution, crooked cops, domestic abuse, violence and mental health problems.

Mrs Donaldson (Sarah Dorsett) welcomes Adrienne (Joanne Arber), who is making a surprise visit to the house.

She is the sister of Carol (Laura Kaye), and they haven’t met for many years, despite family miscarriages, weddings, and deaths failing to reunite them.

When Carol enters, there is an awkward hug, some tentative attempts at reconciling, and some reminiscing.

They say ‘belligerent’ three times in the first ten minutes, so I assumed this was important to the plot. It wasn’t. It was a lack of imaginative writing, plus, not a

word that the working class uses much.

Two younger women: Beryl (Catherine Joyce) and Joanne(Madelyn Morgan) appear and give the impression that they are boarders.

Then Geography Teacher Terry(Oliver Lyndon) and the police officer Cracker make themselves at home. Everyone continually asks Adrienne how long she is staying for. Carol’s husband, Tom(Christopher Tomkins), marches sullenly in and out and makes more awkward conversation and asks Adrienne how long she is staying for.

We were an hour in, and I was now very much hoping this would be going somewhere else to take us out of this oddness.

As it slowly dawns on the audience that this is a brothel, and the first act ends in a welcoming party, I had high hopes for the second half. I shouldn’t have.

In the hangover haze of the morning after, Adrienne finally catches on that Tom is a pimp who beats her sister and had drunken, unwanted sex with her during the night, which was all apparently - a reason to buy herself in as Tom’s business partner. Don’t ask. It was that kind of night…

Again, the sisters’ conversation threw up a battle of a word; this time the famously non-working-class word ‘extricate’, which they strangely bounced about between them.

Characters are given some backstory but none to endear them to us when we realise their situations are of their own choosing. There are brief snatches of excitement but nothing to bother the bored, and they all work hard at making something of this difficult

ARTHUR MILLER GETS A FIRST AT THE GLOBE

script, but this fledgling theatre group needs to choose better next time and produce a play that the working class would want to see.

I was happy to extricate myself at the very welcome end where some of the confusion was clarified.

Brockley Jack Studio Theatre, 410 Brockley Road, London, SE4 2DH until 26th April Box office: www.brockleyjack.co.uk or 0333 666 3366 (£1.80 fee for phone bookings only) Tickets: £17, £15 concessions. (16+)

SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE announced the cast of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, directed by Ola Ince. The Crucible is the first modern classic to be staged at the Globe Theatre and runs from 8 May to 12 July.

Consumed by paranoia, superstition and a ruthless sense of justice, a climate of fear and mass hysteria sweeps through the town of Salem, Massachusetts when rumours grow that a group of girls are practicing witchcraft.

What lies are the townspeople prepared to tell themselves in order to survive?

Revolutionary, award-winning American playwright Arthur Miller’s seminal, political history play about Salem in 1692, and McCarthy’s 1950’s America, is a timeless warning to us all.

The cast comprises Sarah Belcher as Ann Putnam / Sarah Good, Sarah Cullum as Martha Corey / Ruth Putnam / Cover, Gavin Drea as John Proctor, Joshua Dunn as Cheever, Steve Furst as Reverend Parris, James Groom as Willard / Cover, Joanne Howarth as Rebecca Nurse, Molly Madigan as Mercy Lewis / Cover, Aisha-Mae McCormick as Susanna Walcott / Cover, Stuart McQuarrie as Thomas Putnam / Judge Hathorne, Sarah Merrifield as Tituba, Scarlett Nunes as Betty Parris, Glyn Pritchard

as Francis Nurse, Phoebe Pryce as Elizabeth Proctor, Hannah Saxby as Abigail Williams, Gareth Snook as Deputy Governor Danforth, Jo StoneFewings as Reverend Hale, Howard Ward as Giles Corey, and Bethany Wooding as Mary Warren.

Director Ola Ince says: “I’m very excited to share Arthur Miller’s historic epic in the unique immersive space of the Globe Theatre. Combining The Crucible’s big ideas about power, freedom, and gender with the strength of this phenomenal cast is absolutely thrilling!”

The Crucible is designed by Amelia Jane Hankin, with music composed

by Renell Shaw. Lindsay McAllister is Assistant Director, Kevin McCurdy is Fight Director, Ebony Molina is Movement Director, Raniah Al-Sayed is Intimacy Director, and Annemette Verspeak is Text and Voice coach.

Shakespeare’s Globe, Bankside, SE1 9DT from May 8th - July 12th.

Tickets: £5 - £80.

Booking and full details: https://www. shakespearesglobe.com/

RIVER VOICES

‘RIVER VOICES’ is a collaborative art project bringing the Rotherhithe community together to reimagine John Minton’s painting ‘Rotherhithe from Wapping’, but reimagining it as Wapping from Rotherhithe.

John Minton (1917-1957), an English painter, illustrator, set designer, and teacher, struggled with depression and alcoholism.

This led to tragically committing suicide, aged just 39.

‘River Voices’ was created by

© Hannah Burgin

what’s on

Verona Mock, a master’s student at the London Metropolitan University, to create a series of drawings and photographs reimagining Minton’s painting, along with some studies of the Minton original from students at Lewisham College.

It brings together those who fit in and those who don’t fit into society, proving a point of acceptance and equality to all.

Mayflower Tenants’ Hall, 1 Neptune Street, SE16 7JP. from 26th-27th April. 1am-5pm.

EVENTS 21

Events

Heading south - our pick of upcoming spring events

VE Day commemoration and market at Severndroog Castle

Broadway Bingo in Catford

Severndroog Castle will be hosting celebrations for the 80th anniversary of VE day. There will be storytelling, free guided walks with a local historian, choirs and a visit from The Royal British Legion. Volunteers will all be wearing 1940s fashion so they encourage visitors to dress up too!

Broadway Theatre’s drag bingo night with THAT GIRL is back for its second year!

Expect a night of bingo, live music and prizes and “the usual campery, cattiness – and added cake.”

Date: 4th May. Time: 10am-3pm Tickets: no need to book and the event is free Location: Severndroog Castle, Castle Wood, Shooters Hill, London, SE18 3RT, United Kingdom https://www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk/events/may-producers-market-and-ve-day-commemoration

Date: 7th May. Time: 8pm Tickets: £7.00 Broadway Bar, Broadway Theatre, Rushey Green, Catford,London, SE6 4RU https://www.broadwaytheatre.org.uk/events/broadway-bingo

Woolwich Singers Spring Concert at The Tramshed

Urban Village Fete

Community choir, Woolwich Singers, are putting on their annual spring concert. They will be performing a mixture of old and new songs, with a chance to join in, enter the raffle and enjoy a drink at the bar.

It’s the Urban Village Fete’s 10th birthday! Celebrate at the Greenwich Peninsula with live DJs, independent markets, creative experiences, and street food.

War Child is also their 2025 Fete charity partner and there will be donation opportunities on the day.

Date: Friday 23rd May Time: 7pm-9pm Tickets: General admission is £10, concession is £7 The Tramshed, 51-53 Woolwich New Road, London SE18 6ES https://www.tramshed.org/woolwich-singers

Date: 18th May Time: 11am-7pm Location: Greewnich Peninsula, Soames Walk, London SE10 0SQ https://www.greenwichpeninsula.co.uk/whats-on/urban-village-fete

Ministry of Sound revive iconic 00s ‘Smoove’ night See Artful Dodger, Masterstepz, Maximum and more at Ministry of Sound’s returning flagship Friday night event. The club night brings sounds of UK garage, dancehall, hip-hop, R&B, and afrobeats.

Date: Friday 2nd May Time: 10pm-5am Tickets: from £12.64 Ministry of Sound, 103 Gaunt Street, London SE1 6DP https://www.ministryofsound. com/tickets/smoove

Opera Gala Night 2025 The Opera Gala night at Blackheath Halls is back for a glittering evening of operatic favourites. It’s all to raise money for the 2025 community opera.

Performances will include: Opera Patron soprano Ailish Tynan and the Blackheath Halls Youth Choir with more to be announced.

Guests will receive a glass of Prosecco on arrival and a light supper. You can book an entire table for 10 people or individual seats at a table of your choice.

Date: 4th May 2025. Time: 6:30pm-9pm. Tickets: £65 Location: 23 Lee Rd, Blackheath, London SE3 9RQ

22 HISTORY

History

DAN LENO, CLOWN CRICKET AND THE GROVE TAVERN The contortionist, comedian, clown and record breaking clog dancer was a top celeb in his day

Dan Leno and the ‘Clown’s Cricket Match’

The Grove Tavern in East Dulwich

Photo by Stuart Gosling

By Debra Gosling THE GROVE Tavern in Lordship Lane is a rather colourful but abandoned pub. Some people will be appalled to see the state this once lively place has become.

Others may be rubbing their hands with glee thinking of development opportunities.

Personally, I’m neither appalled nor minted enough to build flats... I look at this graffiti’d gem as a colourful place of chaos and anarchy, much like it was when Music Hall legend Dan Leno arrived with his troupe of merry men in 1898.

Before we get to Leno, here’s a bit of history about this old pub. There was a building here from 1690, when John Cox owned land and ran the Green Man pub (its original name).

In 1740, William, son of John, sunk

a well in the pub’s grounds and advertised the health benefits of his spring water. A Georgian version of Del Boy, methinks. He attracted the hoi polloi to come and drink, dance, take breakfast and play on his bowling green.

Tragedy struck when William died and the place was taken over (eventually) by a Dr Glennie, who established an academy in the pub building. His most famous pupil was poetry legend Lord Byron, famously described as “mad, bad and dangerous to know”. He only attended for a couple of years but I bet he left a bit of graffiti in the toilets!

The academy eventually closed and was replaced by Bew’s Tea Garden. In the 1860s the pub was renamed The Grove Tavern. It was rebuilt in 1924 in a faux Tudor design and carried on serving pints and pies but, as covered

in the ‘News, it’s now closed with an uncertain future.

At the moment the old pub’s car park is being used as a skateboard park, something else that Leno would have put into his act. And yet, all of that graffiti madness which gives the place a funfair/circus feel is just right for this tale.

Dan Leno ( 1860-1904) is largely a specialist subject now. The magical days of music hall are hidden in the thick cobwebs of history, but in his day he was a huge star. He was everywhere, right across the country, much like TV host Bradley Walsh is today. Leno was a contortionist, a comedian, a clown and a record breaking clog dancer.

Leno was a big pantomime attraction and created his own characters. Mrs Kelly was one of his most popular personas, which has been copied in

various guises ever since. He has been compared to Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel but was more of a muse to them.

As Leno’s popularity (and bank balance) grew, he took on charity work to raise funds for children’s hospitals, the Licensed Victualler’s School and the Music Hall Benevolent Fund.

A fan of cricket, he gathered eleven of his famous theatre stars to play what is now called a celebrity charity match. In 1898, he and his chums turned up at the Grove Tavern to play the Camberwell Tradesmen’s & United Cricket Club.

Instead of cricket whites the chaps donned top hats, sequins and balloon trousers. Just imagine, a cricket pitch filled with batting and bowling clowns!

The names Harry Randall, George Robey and Herbert Campbell were big names in their day and made up part of the side.

All being theatrical pantomime stars you can imagine the chaos that reigned.

Leno managed to top Bobby Abel’s record runs and scored a century with the aid of a bicycle which he rode between the stumps.

At one point someone’s hat appeared on the field and the whole eleven abandoned the cricket and started playing football with it.

The team returned a year later when Leno was involved in a comedy wrestling match with a man twice his size. Once the cricket began his side turned somersaults at every call of ‘over’!

These matches attracted hundreds of people and huge amounts were collected for the charities. Would there be any celebs today who would like to buy this pub and restore it to its former glory? The ghost of Dan Leno would be cheering you on if you did.

24 CLASSIFIED CLASSIFIED AND COMMUNITY NOTICEBOARD

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LPS AND SINGLES - WHOLE COLLECTIONS WELCOME

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Southwark Pensioners’ Centre

Supporting older people in Southwark for over 35 years.

Offering advice, support, activities, rooms for hire and a voice for older people.

ScotsCare is here to help and support Scots and their families Financial Support | Advocacy Counselling | Sheltered Housing Homelessness | Befriending Social Events I Volunteering

Visit scotscare.com or call 0800 652 2989 to speak with a Client Support Worker to see how we can assist you.

Registered charity England and Wales (207326), Scotland (SC052739)

Contact us on 020 7708 4556 or info@southwarkpensioners.org.uk Or pop into 305 -307 Camberwell rd, Camberwell Green, SE5 0HQ

DRIVERS WE NEED YOU Transport can be challenging for many older people. Help them maintain active social lives.

Become a volunteer driver! volunteering@linkagesouthwark.org www.linkagesouthwark.org 020 8299 2623

PUBLIC NOTICES 25

Thursday, April 24th 2025

Notice of appropriation of open space land at the Astro Turf Pitch Site, Greendale Playing Fields, London, SE5/SE22, section 122(1) and section 122(2A) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that in accordance with section 122(1) and 122(2A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the London Borough of Southwark intends to appropriate for planning purposes the Astro Turf Pitch Site, Greendale Playing Fields, London, SE5/SE22 (“the Land”). The planning purposes relate to planning permission 19/AP/1867:

TUSTIN REGENERATION LANDLORD’S FURTHER INITIAL DEMOLITION NOTICE (“Further Notice”)

“Redevelopment of the Dulwich Hamlet Football (Champion Hill) Stadium, including the demolition of existing buildings, and use of land at Greendale, to provide: - the erection of a new stadium with relocated playing pitch with associated floodlighting and boundary treatment, and part two-part three storey clubhouse building with sports and leisure facilities, with capacity for 4,000 spectators (Use Class D2); - the construction of a multi-functional kickabout space and associated boundary treatment; - the erection of a series of buildings between four and six storeys in height to provide 219 residential dwellings, (Use Class C3); - associated car parking, cycle parking, refuse storage and access road; the widening and greening of a public route with associated hard and soft landscaping; - the relocation of telecommunications equipment and re-provision of the substation together with plant and equipment”

TAKE NOTICE that THE MAYOR AND BURGESSES OF THE LONDON BOROUGH SOUTHWARK of 160 Tooley Street, London, SE1 2QH (“the Council”) intends to demolish the following block(s) (“the Premises”):

The Land is owned by the London Borough of Southwark. A copy of the plan showing the Land is available for inspection at the ground floor reception of the London Borough of Southwark, 160 Tooley Street, London, SE1 2QH. Appointments are available between the hours of 10.00 am – 5.00 pm Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).

The Council is required by Schedule 5A of the Housing Act 1985 to publish the following information:-

Under Schedule 5A of the Housing Act 1985

• 1-34 Bowness House • 1-98 Heversham House, Ilderton Road • 1-38 Kentmere House, Manor Grove

• The demolition of the Premises is necessary for the regeneration of Tustin Estate. This is not possible without demolishing the Premises. The demolition is integral to the implementation of the recommendations of the Cabinet report dated the 13th July 2021 which can be found in the printed minutes of the following weblink under Item No. 14:

Any objections or representations in respect to the proposed appropriation must be made in writing to Matt Derry, Head of Sustainable Growth South, Planning & Growth, London Borough of Southwark, Fifth Floor, 160 Tooley Street, London, SE1 2QH or at regen.info@southwark.gov.uk to be received no later than 8 May 2025.

https://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=302&MId=7014&Ver=4

Dated: 17 April 2025.

Stephen Platts, Director of Planning & Growth, on behalf of the London Borough of Southwark, Fifth Floor, 160 Tooley Street, London, SE1 2QH.

• The Council intends to demolish the Premises by the 23rd April 2032, being no more than seven years after the date of service of this Further Initial Demolition Notice ("Further Initial Notice") and being a reasonable period within which to carry out the proposed demolition.

THE LONDON BOROUGH OF SOUTHWARK

• The Council served Initial Demolition Notices upon the tenants of the Premises which notices expire on the 30th April 2025.

TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ACT 1990

• This Further Initial Notice is served with the permission of the Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, under paragraph 4 of Schedule 5A of the Housing Act 1985, and consent from the Secretary of State has been obtained by the Council.

THE LONDON BOROUGH OF SOUTHWARK hereby gives notice that it has made an Order under Section 247 of the above Act to authorise the stopping up of the following areas of public highway shown hatched black on the drawing attached to the draft Order and labelled Extent of Highway to be Stopped Up:The area of highway to be stopped up is in the London Borough of Southwark and can be described as an area of highway within the footway of the Old Kent Road which measures 16m2, is 22.4 metres long at its longest point and 2.1 metres wide at its widest point IF THE ORDER Is MADE the stopping up will be authorised to enable the development described in the Schedule to this Notice to be carried out in accordance with the planning permission granted under Part III of the Act by the Council under local planning authority reference 22/AP/0554 on 15 December 2022 at Land Adjacent to Ledbury Estate T&RA Hall, SE15 1SH. COPIES OF THE ORDER AND THE RELEVANT PLAN MAY BE INSPECTED FREE OF CHARGE by way of appointment at the London Borough of Southwark, 160 Tooley Street, London SE1 2TZ by calling 020 7525 2135 and referring to the Land at Land Adjacent to Ledbury Estate T&RA Hall, SE15 1SH Stopping Up Order. Copies are also available on the council’s website:https://www.southwark.gov.uk/transport-and-roads/traffic-orders-licensing-strategies-andregulation/highway-stopping-up-closure-orders?chapter=4 ANY PERSON MAY OBJECT by the Order and desiring to question the validity thereof, or of any provision contained therein, on the ground that it is not within the powers of the above Act or that any regulation made thereunder has not been complied with in relation to the Order may, within 6 weeks of 26th April 2025 apply to the High Court for the suspension or quashing of the Order or of any provision contained herein.

• This Further Initial Notice will cease to be in force on the 23rd April 2032 unless it has already been revoked or otherwise terminated under the provisions of paragraph 3 of Schedule 5A of the Housing Act 1985.

TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that: (a) Whilst this Further Initial Notice is in force the Council shall be under no obligation to make such a grant as is mentioned in Section 138(1) of the Housing Act 1985 in respect of any claim to exercise the Right to Buy of properties (“Dwelling Houses”) which form part of the Premises; (b) Notwithstanding (a) above the service of this Further Initial Notice does not prevent: (i) making any claim to exercise the Right to Buy in respect of the Dwelling Houses within the Premises; or (ii) the taking of such steps pursuant to Part V of the Housing Act 1985 in connection with any such claim in respect of the Dwelling Houses up to the point where Section 138(1) would otherwise operate in relation to the claim; or (iii) the operation of Section 138(1) in most cases where this Further Initial Notice ceases to be in force.

However, if the Council subsequently serves a Final Demolition Notice in respect of the Premises (which includes the Dwelling Houses), the Right to Buy in respect of the Dwelling Houses will not arise whilst that notice is in force and any existing claim in respect of the Dwelling Houses will cease to be effective. (c) If there is an existing Right to Buy claim in respect of s Dwelling House at the date this Further Initial Notice comes into force, there may be a right to compensation in relation to certain expenditure under Section 138C of the Housing Act 1985. This is provided that within three months, beginning with the date when this Further Initial Notice comes into force, the Council is served a written notice claiming an amount of compensation under Section 138C(3). The claim must be accompanied by receipts or other documents showing expenditure incurred. (d) Compensation is in respect of expenditure reasonably incurred before this Further Initial Notice comes into force in respect of legal and other fees and other professional costs and expenses payable in connection with the exercise of the Right to Buy.

Doreen Forrester-Brown Director of Legal Services THE SCHEDULE ‘The redevelopment of the Ledbury Estate involving the demolition of Bromyard House, Skenfrith House, Sarnsfield House and Peterchurch House and the erection of 6 blocks ranging in height from 5 to 22 storeys (max 79.34m AOD) to provide 340 new homes (including 224 replacement homes), provision of Class E space fronting Old Kent Road at ground floor level, together with reprovision of the tenants & residents association hall and multi-use games area, access, servicing, car parking, cycle parking, cycle storage, plant, play and open space and landscaping.’

To place a notice in this paper and online, please email em@cm‐media.co.uk

The date on which this Further Initial Notice comes into force is the 24th April 2025 this being the date on which a copy of this Further Initial Notice was served on the tenants of the Premises.

Any queries, comments or observations regarding this matter should be directed to Trish Hadden, Sales & Acquisitions Manager, Southwark Council, Sales & Acquisitions Team, PO Box 64529, London, SE1P 5LX or by email to Specialist.Homepurchase@southwark.gov.uk.

Dated:

24th April 2025

Name:

Hakeem Osinaike

Signed: Title:

Strategic Director of Housing

On behalf of the Mayor and Burgesses of the London Borough of Southwark

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26 PUBLIC NOTICES

Thursday, April 24th 2025

LONDON BOROUGH OF SOUTHWARK TOWN & COUNTRY PLANNING ACT 1990 (as amended) PLANNING (LISTED BUILDINGS AND CONSERVATION AREAS) ACT 1990 (as amended) The planning applications listed below can be viewed on the planning register at https://planning.southwark.gov.uk/online-applications/ You can use facilities at your local library or 'My Southwark Service Points' to access the website.

How to comment on this application: You should submit your comments via the above link. Comments received will be made available for public viewing on the website. All personal information will be removed except your postal address. Online comments submitted without an email address will not be acknowledged and those marked 'confidential' will not be considered. Written comments can be submitted to; Southwark Council, Planning division, Development Management, PO Box 64529, London SE1 5LX. Reason for publicity. The applications are advertised for the reasons identified by the following codes: AFFECT - development affecting character or appearance of a nearby conservation area; OR development affecting setting of a nearby listed building(s); DEP - departure from the development plan; EIA - environmental impact assessment (these applications are accompanied by an environmental statement a copy of which may be obtained from the Council - there will be a charge for the copy); MAJ - major planning application; PIP - application is for Permission in Principle; S106 - ; STDCA development within a conservation area; STDLB - works to or within the site of a listed building; 170 TURNEY ROAD LONDON SOUTHWARK SE21 7JL (Ref: 25/AP/0556) Construction of a single storey rear extension.

(Within: Dulwich Village CA) Reason(s) for publicity: STDCA (Contact: Samuel Hepworth 020 7525 5465) 13 BURBAGE ROAD LONDON SOUTHWARK SE24 9HJ (Ref: 25/AP/0925) New single storey flat green roof rear extension, replacement timber sash windows with new double glazed units, new rooflights to existing hipped roof, new door to side elevation, removal of window to the rear elevation (Within: Stradella Road CA) Reason(s) for publicity: STDCA (Contact: Samuel Hepworth 020 7525 5465) 40 DENMARK HILL LONDON SOUTHWARK SE5 8RZ (Ref: 25/AP/0750) Raising existing ground rear roof from 4.1m to 5.1m (Within: Camberwell Green CA) Reason(s) for publicity: STDCA (Contact: Samuel Hepworth 020 7525 5465) 38 CAMBERWELL GROVE LONDON SOUTHWARK SE5 8RE (Ref: 25/AP/0887) Construction of a three storey plus basement self-build family home following demolition of an unlisted garage structure, and the erection of two connected single-storey garden buildings, and; Restoration/extension of the existing listed dwelling to include demolition of existing sunroom and construction of lower ground floor single storey rear extension, renovation of existing side return, installation of rooflight.

(Within: Camberwell Grove Conservation Area Camberwell Grove Conservation Area CA) Reason(s) for publicity: STDLB (Contact: Glenn Ruane 020 7525 5840)

STREET LONDON SOUTHWARK SE1 9RY (Ref: 25/AP/1060) Variation of Condition 4 (Use Restriction Hours) of planning permission ref. 21/AP/1560 dated 30/06/2021 for 'Variation of Condition 3 pursuant to planning permission 20/AP/0152 dated 3rd April 2020 for 'Change of use of the former main chapel and crypt from a restaurant (Class A3) to a drinking establishment (Class A4, now Sui Generis)' The amendment seeks to amend the operational hours to 07:30 to 00:00 Monday to Thursday, 08:00 to 02:00 on Fridays, Saturdays and Bank Holidays and 09:00 to 00:00 on Sundays. (Within: Borough High Street Borough High Street CA) Reason(s) for publicity: STDCA (Contact: Michèle Sterry 020 7525 5453) 33 EAST DULWICH GROVE LONDON SOUTHWARK SE22 8PW (Ref: 25/AP/1078) Installation of advertisements incl. 1no. wall mounted display board sign, 1no. painted logo sign, 1no. flag to the existing flagpole, 1no. externally illumi-nated metal cutout lettering sign and 1no. externally illuminated freestanding display board sign Reason(s) for publicity: STDLB (Contact: Adeleh Haghgoo 020 7525 0474) 54 AYLESBURY ROAD LONDON SOUTHWARK SE17 2EH (Ref: 25/AP/1019) Replacement of existing glazing with new windows and doors to rear, and replacement of existing timber sash windows with new timber sash windows to front. (Within: Liverpool Grove Liverpool Grove CA) Reason(s) for publicity: STDCA (Contact: Gabriel Neri 020 7525 2707)

HONOR OAK PUMPING STATION HICHISSON ROAD LONDON SOUTHWARK SE15 3AQ (Ref: 25/AP/1026) Listed building consent for alterations including replacement of a window with louvre, support brackets and core hole for new ventilation pipework Reason(s) for publicity: STDLB (Contact: Anna Poulose 020 7525 3174)

FLAT 1 UNITY WHARF 13 MILL STREET LONDON SOUTHWARK SE1 2BH Ref: 25/AP/1113) Listed building consent for replacement of 3 no. double fire escape doors, 1 no. ventilation outlet, removal of 1 no. ventilation outlet, introduction of 1 no. ventilation outlet, removal of 3 no. intruder alarm units and introduction of 2 no. intruder alarm units (Within: St Saviours Dock CA) Reason(s) for publicity: STDLB (Contact: Anna Poulose 020 7525 3174)

ST THOMAS'S CHURCH 9A ST THOMAS

119 COURT LANE LONDON SOUTHWARK

SE21 7EE (Ref: 25/AP/1001) Variation of Condition 1 (Approved Plans) and Condition 3 (Materials) pursuant to planning permission 24/AP/3092 for 'Construction of a new single-storey ground floor rear extension with associated hard landscaping. Conversion of the existing loft into new master bedroom with new rear and conservation rooflights to side and front, with new dormer extension'. The amendments include the following: - Reduction in size for the ground floor extension. The extension will now step halfway across the rear elevation, stepping back by 1340mm. This sees the GIA of the ground floor extension reduce from 27.22sqm to 23.11sqm. - Hanging tiles replaced with PIGMENTO grey zinc standing seam cladding on the rear dormer. (Within: Dulwich Village CA) Reason(s) for publicity: STDCA (Contact: Agneta Kabele 020 7525 3148) 70 IVYDALE ROAD LONDON SOUTHWARK SE15 3BS (Ref: 25/AP/1036) Construction of a ground floor side and rear extension, internal alterations and all associated works. (Within: Nunhead Cemetry CA) Reason(s) for publicity: STDCA (Contact: Ibrahim Azam 020 7525 2876) 38 CAMBERWELL GROVE LONDON (Ref: 25/AP/0888) Restoration/extension of the existing listed dwelling to include demolition of existing sunroom and construction of lower ground floor single storey rear extension, renovation of existing side return, alterations to internal layout, installation of rooflight, and the erection of two connected single-storey garden buildings as part of a development including the construction of a three storey plus basement self-build family home following demolition of an unlisted garage structure. (AMENDED DESCRIPTION). (Within: Camberwell Grove Conservation Area Camberwell Grove Conservation Area CA) Reason(s) for publicity: STDLB (Contact: Rosie Poser 020 7525 7924) Dated: 22 Apr 2025 - comments to be received within 21 days of this date (or 14 days for

Permission in Principle, 30 days for EIA development).

STEPHEN PLATTS - Director of Planning and Growth

PUBLIC NOTICES 27

Thursday, April 24th 2025

LONDON BOROUGH OF SOUTHWARK

LONDON BOROUGH OF SOUTHWARK

ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 SECTION 14(1) (NIGEL ROAD, ILIFFE STREET, WESTON STREET)

ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 SECTION 14(1) (COSTA STREET, COPPERFIELD STREET)

(TEMPORARY PROHIBITION OF TRAFFIC)

(TEMPORARY PROHIBITION OF TRAFFIC)

1.

The Council of the London Borough of Southwark hereby gives notice that to enable various works to be carried out, it made, an order, the effect of which will be to prohibit vehicular traffic from entering part of the above named roads.

1.

The Council of the London Borough of Southwark hereby gives notice that to enable various works to be carried out, it intends, to make an order, the effect of which will be to prohibit vehicular traffic from entering part of the above named roads.

2.

Whilst the works are in progress, or whilst the authorised traffic signs/road markings are displayed, no person shall cause any vehicle to enter, proceed, stop, wait, load or unload at any time in:

2.

Whilst the works are in progress, or whilst the authorised traffic signs/road markings are displayed, no person shall cause any vehicle to enter, proceed, stop, wait, load or unload at any time in:

(2a) Nigel Road, between Peckham Rye and Rye Passage (2b) Iliffe Street, at it’s junction with Penton Place to No’s 8 (2c) Weston Street, between St Thomas Street for 45m south 3.

The alternative routes for affected traffic will be (2a) Rye Lane, Heaton Road, Consort Road, Nunhead Lane, East Dulwich Road, Fenwick Road, Anstey Road (2b) Penton Place, Amelia Street, Crampton Street, Iliffe Street. Crampton Street, Amelia Street, Penton Place (2c) St Thomas Street, Borough High Street, Long Lane, or as indicated by the signs displayed

(2a) Costa Street, between Mcdermott Road and Choumert Road (2b) Copperfield Street, between Risborough Street and Great Suffolk Street 3.

The alternative routes for affected traffic will be (2a) Costa Street, Mcdermott Road, Reedham Street (2b) Great Suffolk Street, Loman Street, Sawyer Street, Copperfield Street

4.

Exemptions will be provided in the Order to permit reasonable access to premises, so far as it is practical without interference with the execution of the said works.

5.

The restrictions will not apply to any vehicle being used in connection with the said works, or for fire brigade, ambulance or police purposes or anything done with the permission or at the direction of a police constable in uniform.

6.

The closure will be in operation on the following dates: (2a) 12th – 23rd May (2b) 14th – 16th May. Further information may be obtained by contacting Road Network Management at ttmo@southwark.gov.uk

4.

Exemptions will be provided in the Order to permit reasonable access to premises, so far as it is practical without interference with the execution of the said works.

5.

The restrictions will not apply to any vehicle being used in connection with the said works, or for fire brigade, ambulance or police purposes or anything done with the permission or at the direction of a police constable in uniform.

6.

The existing ‘one-way’ working in Weston Street, between St Thomas Street and Snowsfields will be made ‘two-way’ for access and egress purposes for item (2c) BT

7.

7.

The closure will be in operation on the following dates: (2a) 6th May – 15th June (2b) 6th May – 10th June (2c) 4th May

Dated this 24th April 2025

8.

Further information may be obtained by contacting Road Network Management at ttmo@southwark.gov.uk

Dated this 24th April 2025 Ian Law Traffic Manager, London Borough of Southwark, Network Management, Environment, Neighbourhoods and Growth 160 Tooley Street, PO Box 64529, London, SE1 5LX Ref: (2a) W121303764-01803/SGN (2b) 77641548/conway (2c) WG1V660NETHSB/bt

Ian Law Traffic Manager, London Borough of Southwark, Network Management, Environment, Neighbourhoods and Growth 160 Tooley Street, PO Box 64529, London, SE1 5LX Ref: (2a) SEC50/COSTASTREET/neilcott (2b) SLS00081237033-0260/Thames

Notice of Application for a Premises Licence made under Section 17 of the Licensing Act 2003 Please take notice that I / we S Lyons Ltd T/A Henri’s Have made application to Southwark Council for a new Premises Licence in respect of Henri’s, 1, Basement, Bermondsey Square, London SE1 3UN The relevant licensable activities and proposed times to be carried on, or on from the premises are

Statutory Notice Proposal to expand the Cherry Garden School into a satellite provision, that will occupy spare classroom space at the Bellenden Primary School.

Southwark Council publishes these proposals under section 19(1) of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 and having regard to the DfE guidance ‘Making significant changes (‘prescribed alterations’) to maintained schools - Statutory guidance for proposers and decision makers October 2024.

The proposal in this notice is to expand the Cherry Garden School into a satellite provision, that will occupy spare classroom space at the Bellenden Primary School from a provisional date of September 2025.

Days

Start time

Finish time

The retail sale of alcohol:

Monday to Thursday Friday & Saturday Sunday

18:00 18:00 18:00

02:00 03:00 02:00

The provision of regulated entertainment:

Monday to Thursday Friday & Saturday Sunday

18:00 18:00 18:00

02:00 03:00 02:00

The provision of late night refreshment:

Monday to Thursday Friday & Saturday Sunday

23:00 23:00 23:00

02:00 03:00 02:00

Opening hours:

Monday to Thursday Friday & Saturday Sunday

18:00 18:00 18:00

02:00 03:00 02:00

These proposals would see: • The expansion of the Cherry Garden School to a two-site specialist provision.

• The creation of approximately 25 new specialist places for pupils at Cherry Garden School • Unused spaces at Bellenden Primary School brought back into use for children, making the school more financially secure for the future • Investment into the making the unused spaces fully accessible and suitable for children with special needs.

• More local specialist places meaning more parental choice.

The proposals to expand Cherry Garden School was published on 28 April 2025.

Within four weeks from the date of publication of this proposal, any person may object to or make comments on the proposal by visiting https://engage.southwark.gov.uk/en-GB/projects/cherry-gardensch or by writing to: Education Capital Team, Hub 1, 4th Floor, Southwark Council, 160 Tooley Street, SE1 2TZ. The closing date for receipt of responses to the representation period is 26 May 2025 at 5pm. The Council’s Cabinet will meet after the end of the representation period, in June 2025, to take the final decision on the proposal in this notice.

This notice is an extract from the complete proposal. Copies of the complete proposal can be viewed at https://engage.southwark.gov.uk/en-GB/projects/cherry-garden-sch. If you require a paper copy of this, please contact us via email at schoolcapitalprojects@southwark.gov.uk or by writing to: Education Capital Team, Hub 1, 4th Floor, Southwark Council, 160 Tooley Street, SE1 2TZ. Michael Crowe

Assistant Director – Transformation & Operations (Children’s Services) Publication Date: 26 April 2025

To place a public notice, please email em@cm‐media.co.uk or call 020 7232 1639 Deadline is 3pm on Wednesdays

A register of all applications made within the Southwark area is maintained by: The Licensing Service, Hub 1, 3rd Floor, 160 Tooley Street, London, SE1 2QH A record of this application may be inspected by visiting the office during normal office hours by appointment on 020 7525 2000; details are also available on our website at http://app.southwark.gov.uk/licensing/licenseregister.asp It is open to any interested party to make representations about the likely effect of the application on the promotion of the licensing objectives. Representations must be made in writing to the Licensing Service at the office address given above (or by email via licensing@southwark.gov.uk) and be received by the Service within a period of 28 days starting the day after the date shown below.

Note: It is an offence to knowingly or recklessly make a false statement in connection with an application. A person guilty of such offence is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

Date of application: 17th April 2025

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SPORT 29

MAGIC WAND SAVES HAMLET Boss: ‘This club deserves better - it needs to be driven and ambitious

By John Kelly LUKE WANADIO secured ten-man Dulwich Hamlet’s Isthmian League Premier Division status with a last-minute winner to beat Canvey Island 2-1 at Champion Hill last weekend.

ambition and what we need to do and focus on.

“It was a privilege to be a part of. The boys really dug in and put something in that I think this club will be proud of. It deserves to be a lot higher than where it is but emotionally, you know, sometimes you need to do what you’ve got to do and this is what we’ve done over the last couple of weeks. We’ve had tremendous amounts of injuries, players not available for selection, players coming in and out,

and obviously not doing what this club expects, and we needed to fix that and I think that’s what we’ve done.

“I was proud of the boys. Emotionally a lot for me, it was something to really, really be proud of, what I’ve done for this club and I feel passionate about this club being local as well, it means a lot.

“It’s hard to take and hard to accept at times [struggling in the league], but emotionally, and this is what things are about, people’s livelihoods and the time they put in behind the scenes, it’s passionate. This club deserves so much better. And that was my chat to the boys after the game and emotionally before the game with everything that this club does behind the scenes. It’s a huge, huge club and shouldn’t be where they were.

“But we deserve everything what we got in that game. Whatever was thrown at us, we didn’t hide and we delivered.

And I’m proud for the fans, I’m proud for

the club, I’m proud for all my players who really delivered in terms of the conditions of what was thrown at them.”

Quinton was asked about the difficulties and pressure of the job.

“I’m local, I’m committed,” he replied.

“But what’s been thrown at me this season is something that some managers would never even want to be part of.

But I think it’s something that made me stronger. I think it’s made me understand the club more. And I think emotionally, it’s been hard. But as you’ve seen from me, you know, week-in, week-out, I don’t hide.

“I think this is such a learning curve and it makes me stronger in my managerial career. What I’ve had to deal with and manage, and different players being available and not available, injuries, etc.

“But we have stood up and I think the fans appreciate what we’ve done. I think the club appreciate what we’ve done as

Surrey striving for ‘perfect game’ as they remain winless Sussex 435 & 132-0: Haines 69*, Hughes 49* Surrey 490: Lawrence 117, Pope 103, Sibley 82, Foakes 60; Coles 5-108 Sussex (14 pts) drew with Surrey (15 pts)

By Bruce Talbot in Hove CHAMPIONS SURREY are still looking for the first win of the season in the Rothesay County Championship after they drew with Sussex at Hove.

Surrey’s hopes of putting pressure on their hosts on the final day evaporated when they lost their last seven wickets for 100 runs in the morning session.

They still took a first-innings lead of 55 after being dismissed for 490, but Tom Haines followed his first-innings 174 with an unbeaten 69 (nine fours) and Dan Hughes contributed 49 to an unbroken first-wicket stand of 132.

Haines took his aggregate for the season to 449 and is averaging 89.8.

Surrey needed early wickets to

put pressure back on Sussex but the openers wiped out the arrears in the seventeenth over, by which time Surrey had to employ spin at both ends because of the poor light with skipper Rory Burns bowling three overs and Dan Worrall and Dom Sibley sending down some exploratory leg breaks.

Bad light stopped play at 3.25pm and there was never any chance that the players would return. In the end the loss of 83 overs during the first three days to bad weather and a pitch which hardly deteriorated ended up frustrating both teams.

Surrey took fifteen points and Sussex fourteen and both sides remain unbeaten after three matches.

Surrey began the day on 390-3 with ambitions to go past Sussex’s 435 and make it an awkward second innings for their hosts.

But they lost momentum straight away. Ollie Robinson’s third ball of the day stopped in the pitch and Dan Lawrence gave mid-wicket an easy catch without adding to his 107, which came off 111 balls with ten

fours and a six.

Robinson settled into a probing spell of 11-2-42-1 and Jayden Seales gave good support on a pitch that offered more seam movement than had been evident in the previous two days under low cloud cover and with the floodlights in use. And after conceding 162 runs during the afternoon session on the third day and incurring the wrath of coach Paul Farbrace Sussex were much more disciplined in the field.

Seales bowled at decent pace from the sea end and was rewarded with wickets in successive overs. Ben Foakes fenced at a ball of good length for 60 then Ryan Patel (29) fatally chased a widish one.

Left-arm spinner James Coles finished things off with the last four wickets. Jordan Clark heaved across the line before the left-arm spinner picked up the final three wickets in six balls.

Atkinson inside-edged a full toss onto his off stump, Matthew Fisher was bowled trying to guide his second

delivery down to third man and Coles completed his maiden five-for when he fired one down the leg side and Ollie Sykes got a thin edge to John Simpson, who took his fourth wicket of the innings to ensure Sussex took maximum bowling points, an unlikely outcome at the start of the day.

“It was a tough four days on a very good pitch,” Surrey coach Gareth Batty said. The weather intervened which stopped our momentum, especially on the third day, but there were some solid performances and we’re probably getting to a nice place where players are starting to hit their straps. “[The pitch] was what we expected, people started doing it to us at the end of last year - very flat, docile, placid surfaces. We’re a couple of bits of ammunition who might help us take 20 wickets down at the moment but that’s no excuse, we’ve had our opportunities but you just need to play the perfect game to get a result.

That perfect game is what everyone is striving for - we certainly are.”

a manager and as a coaching staff. To be able to deliver a performance like that when you go down to ten men is a credit to the boys, a credit to the staff.

“But first and foremost, it’s about keeping this fantastic club in the league.

This club should never be anywhere near it [relegation]. And we’ve had to deal with that, and we’ve had to build on that, and hopefully we can build on what we’ve got for next season. It starts now and we need to be focused on what this club needs to be. Community. It needs to be driven. It needs to be ambitious. It needs to be [players feeling] privileged to be playing for this club and playing for this shirt. This pink and blue shirt means a lot to the club.

“And I think that’s what I’m about - and that’s what sport should be about.”

The Hamlet’s last game of the season is against Chatham Town at Champion Hill on Saturday at 3pm.

Photo by Rob Avis

Bradley Sach gave the visitors an eleventh-minute lead before Amaru Kaunda’s leveller on 68 minutes.

Kreshnic Krasniqi was sent off in the 79th minute after a second yellow card before Wanadio’s last-gasp effort sent the majority of the 2,668 in attendance into ecstasy.

Bradley Quinton was appointed in January after the dismissal of Hakan Hayrettin.

“There’s been a lot of rollercoasters but the objective was to keep this club where we are and obviously progress for next season,” Quinton said. “And that’s the

Bradley Quinton achieved his objective, Inset - The players celebrate

Fish clinch play-offspot

By John Kelly

FISHER VIRTUALLY guaranteed a SCEFL Premier Division playoff spot after a battling 0-0 draw at Whitstable Town on Easter Monday.

Fisher moved three points above sixth-place Rusthall with a game to play, but Ajay Ashanike’s side have a better goal difference, meaning it would require a dramatic swing on the final day.

For Fisher to lose out, Punjab United in fifth have to beat Erith & Belvedere at home, and then Rusthall defeat champions Faversham coupled with a Fish loss at home to fifteenth-place Hollands & Blair, with a nine-goal swing across the two latter fixtures.

Fisher will almost certainly be back at Whitstable next Tuesday for the semi-final.

Fisher’s game in Rotherhithe this Saturday kicks off at 3pm.

30 SPORT

IVANOVIC ON TARGET AS LIONS CRUSH CANARIES Serbian striker’s brace sees Millwall sweep past Norwich on Easter Monday to revive play-off hopes

SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP Millwall - 3 Ivanovic 8’, 69’, Azeez 39’’ Norwich - 1 Duffy 45+4’

Mihailo Ivanovic heads in Millwall’s third

Date: Monday 21 April 25 Man of the Match: Mihailo Ivanovic Attendance: 16,426 (2,766) Referee: Elliot Bell

By Will Scott at The Den MIHAILO IVANOVIC scored his second brace of the season as Millwall comfortably beat Norwich City 3-1 on Easter Monday at The Den.

The Lions were incisive, creative and overwhelmed the lacklustre Canaries with their energy, urged on by their buoyant home support.

Ivanovic demonstrated again he can score all manner of goals, with his opener bouncing off his knee after Femi Azeez fizzed the ball into the box early in the first half and his second a powerful header in the second half to restore Millwall’s twogoal cushion.

Between the two strikes, Azeez nodded in a free kick and Shane Duffy scored what was ultimately a consolation goal when he headed in a corner on the cusp of halftime.

It was a much-needed performance after a disappointing 4-1 loss away at Blackburn on Good Friday, and one that could revive Millwall’s top six hopes, which looked dead and buried last weekend.

Fellow play-off contenders Bristol City, Middlesbrough and Coventry City all lost to leave the Lions three points off the top six. A tricky gap to overcome with just two games remaining, but certainly not out of the question.

Millwall headed into the match needing a win to keep their top-six hopes alive, and were happy to let Norwich dominate the ball in the opening ten minutes, with the Canaries lacking an attacking spark.

Meanwhile, the Lions possessed far more incision the few moments they had on the ball.

In the eighth minute, Millwall won the ball high up the pitch, worked it to Tristan

Crama and his cross bounced to Azeez at the back post. The 23-year-old winger fired in a cutback that took a deflection and bounced off Ivanovic’s knee into the Canaries’ net.

After Norwich’s initial spell of possession, the tie turned into a back and forth affair with the Lions having the better of the chances, and their high press proving to be effective.

Azeez had a few shots blocked coming off the left, while Jake Cooper headed wide from a corner.

Ivanovic had a golden opportunity to double Millwall’s lead in the nineteenth minute when it looked like he would get on the end of a ball over the top, but Canaries goalkeeper Vicente Reyes just

about cleared his lines from outside the box, and it looked like the Serb pulled out of the challenge at the last minute.

Norwich had their first chance of the half in the 32nd minute. The ball was played long to Borja Sainz, who knocked it down for Josh Sargent. The American winger drove at the box before cutting back onto his left foot and curling an effort wide.

Millwall doubled their lead in the 39th minute, with Azeez rising up at the front post and nodding George Saville’s free kick past Reyes and into the bottom corner.

The Lions pushed to further widen their lead, and in the 44th minute Cundle played it out to Crama whose driven ball across the six-yard box was just about

smothered by Reyes with Coburn waiting to pounce.

Norwich rarely threatened in the first half but managed to pull one back on the cusp of half-time when Shane Duffy powered in their second corner of the game.

The Canaries’ late goal was a blemish on what otherwise had been an excellent first half for Millwall. They had restricted Norwich’s potent attackers to just one shot on target, and looked dangerous every time they went forward.

They continued their momentum into the second half, with the Lions possessing a frantic energy and creating several halfchances.

Saville cannoned a long-range effort past

too far for us in terms of the effort, the intensity that we’ve put into so many matches,” Neil said. “You can see also with some of the lads that have had to drop out for today. Physically we’re stretched as a squad, a lot of the lads have come back, played loads of games and it’s been tough and they’ve done so well. It’s difficult to be critical. Blackburn we were all disappointed.

“But I think what has happened is every time we’ve suffered a setback, I think the response has been emphatic in terms of the next game, what we do, how we go about it. I thought today was probably one of our best performances, especially with the volume of chances in terms of what came our way. I thought we were the dominant team for the majority of the match.

“Norwich are a good side. They’ve got some good players, attacking wise

they’re the second-highest goalscorers in the league. So they’re going to carry a threat and we’re going to have to deal with that. But more importantly, we need to go and try and win the game for obvious reasons, which we managed to do.”

Neil partially attributed the improved performance to a better balance in the side.

“I thought the balance was much better,” Neil said. “We didn’t play enough at Blackburn, that was the first thing.

What happens is if you don’t play enough, you don’t drag another extra midfield player through, which means when we turn it, they’re intact all the time. I just thought we were too direct against Blackburn. We didn’t win enough duels.

“Whereas I thought the two centreforwards were a real handful today, but I

thought it was because we played behind them, drew an extra midfield player out, put the ball in on them and then we could play from there.

“Norwich going forward, they’re one of the best teams in this division and the stats suggest that as well. People can disagree with me if they want, they’ve scored the second most goals in the league this season behind Leeds. So they’re very, very good going forward.

“I thought for how talented they are, we really limited them. We had a lot of chances in the game. We played some nice football at times, but we also mixed it at times. We also pressed it at times.

Successful teams take a lot of different ingredients. It’s not just about being nice with the ball, there’s loads of nice teams with the ball and I think at the moment, we struck the balance really well today.

That was the most pleasing thing for me.”

Millwall boss: Norwich win was ‘probably one of our best performances’ of the season

By Will Scott MILLWALL BOSS Alex Neil Neil thought his side put in one their best performances of his tenure during their 3-1 win against Norwich City.

The Lions posed a constant danger in open play, transition and from set-pieces, and finished the game with sixteen shots to the Canaries’ four.

While Norwich had more of the ball (59 per cent possession), it was mostly in non-threatening areas of the pitch and they rarely got the ball to their dangerous attacking duo of Josh Sargent and Borja Sainz, who have combined for 32 goals this season.

It was a much needed performance after a disappointing 4-1 loss to Blackburn Rovers on Good Friday.

“I think Friday just looked like a game

the post in the 48th minute, Crama headed wide from two set-pieces and Cundle had a shot blocked following a flick on by Josh Coburn.

Millwall’s press was causing issues and resulted in their best chance of the opening 20 minutes of the half. Azeez won the ball high up the pitch, played a onetwo with Ivanovic and had his effort from a tight angle saved.

The Lions’ energy and intent overwhelmed Norwich, and it looked like they had scored a third in the 66th minute when Coburn headed in Saville’s free kick, but it was ruled out for a foul.

Three minutes later, Millwall had the ball in the back of the net again and this time it was deemed legal, with Ivanovic scoring his second after thumping home Saville’s corner.

The Lions had a two-goal lead with only 21 minutes left in the tie, but still pushed for more. Coburn broke through in transition in the 72nd minute and squared it for De Norre whose shot was blocked. An open Ivanovic was lurking at the back post and would have been in prime position to complete his first hat-trick.

The Canaries pushed for a late goal, but aside from a few set-piece halfchances were held at an arm’s length by a professional and composed Millwall - who were rewarded with Olés from the home support every time they completed a pass.

The Den erupted as the whistle blew, with the Lions’ late play-off bid still very much on.

Millwall: 4-4-2 – Evans; Crama, Tanganga, Cooper, Sturge (Leonard 91); Cundle (Connolly 88), Saville, De Norre (Wintle 81), Azeez (Emakhu 91); Coburn, Ivanovic (Langstaff 88) Unused Substitutes: Przewozny, Kelly, Harding, Matthews

Norwich: 4-4-3 - Reyes; Stacey, Duffy, Cordoba, McLean; Wright, Nunez (Doyle 76), Marcondes (Ben Slimane 61); Schwartau (Hernandez 61), Sargent, Sainz (Gibbs 61) Unused Substitutes: Long, McConville, Forson, Jones

SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP

Millwall VS

Swansea City Saturday, April 26 (3pm) Possible Millwall starting XI: 4-4-2 Jensen; Crama, Cooper, Tanganga, Sturge; Cundle, Saville, De Norre, Azeez; Coburn, Ivanovic Last meeting: Sky Bet Championship (October 26, 2024): Swansea City 0-1 Millwall (De Norre 90’) Match odds: Millwall 13/10 Draw 2/1 Swansea 9/4

SPORT 31

Frankie Baker initially joined Millwall in the under-nines

but says he is “in the battle” after hitting twelve

By Will Scott MIHAILO IVANOVIC said it was a “wonderful feeling” after he scored a brace to power Millwall to a 3-1 win over Norwich City on Good Friday.

The Serbian striker has been in fine form of late, scoring six goals in his last seven games, and he continued that run against the Canaries.

The 20-year-old scored an unusual goal to break the deadlock in the eighth minute. Femi Azeez fired in a cross that took a late deflection and cannoned off Ivanovic’s knee and into the net.

“I knew Femi was going to put the straight ball in, but I was hoping it’s going to come straight to me, but it bounced off

somebody,” Ivanovic said. “I just needed to think fast, and I just put it in with my knee. It went inside, that’s the important thing.”

His second was a more standard finish.

George Saville curled a corner towards the front post, Ivanovic rose above his marker and nodded it past Norwich keeper Vicente Reyes.

“I was hoping the ball was going my way,” Ivanovic said. “I saw Sav putting it on the first post, so I just went there and head it. And it’s the most wonderful thing to score with a header for me. I don’t know why, but I love scoring with headers.”

Ivanovic’s double takes him to twelve goals in all competitions so far - an impressive figure given it’s his first season

in the league after signing for a then clubrecord fee from Vojvodina last summer.

When asked if he expected to score so many goals in his first Championship campaign, Ivanovic said: “I don’t know what to say about that because it is a hard league, especially for the first few games when I saw it’s so difficult. But you get used to it with your teammates and when the team is good. I cannot say it’s easy to score, but it’s my job to score the goals, so hopefully it will be more.”

Ten out of twelve of Ivanovic’s goals have come during Alex Neil’s tenure as head coach, who was appointed on December 30, 2024.

Ivanovic said the Scotsman has helped improve his game.

“One month after he arrived, he saw that maybe I have something to improve a little bit more, and that’s the movement inside the box,” Ivanovic said. “He helped me a lot with the movements to go, on the second post, on the first post, when to go, when not to go. He helped me a lot with those things.”

Ivanovic has also benefited from the presence of fellow striker Josh Coburn.

Every time he has scored in the past two months, it has been while starting alongside the Middlesbrough loanee.

“Josh Coburn is an amazing player,” Ivanovic said. “I love playing with him upfront because he’s a little bit taller than me and he can fight for the ball, and I can wait in the spaces a little bit more. There

are two big guys in the box always for the crosses. So I love playing with Josh.”

When asked if Coburn helps create space for him, Ivanovic said: “It’s true because we are two against two then against defenders. He helps me a lot, and I try to help him as much as I can because he is used to this league and I’m new. We help each other and we speak a lot. We are good friends. It’s amazing.”

Ivanovic has alluded to his personal goal for the season before, but still remains tight-lipped as to what it is and whether he is on track to hit it.

“There is still more to come,” Ivanovic said. “We’ll see at the end of the season how it goes. I’m in the battle for it, but we’ll see if I’m going to hit it.”

lived, with Sondre Tronstrad restoring Blackburn’s lead just before half-time with a well-struck effort from outside the box.

The Rovers extended their lead in the 50th minute with a well-worked move that ended up with Callum Brittain on the right flank, who fired past George Evans at his near post. Blackburn added another nine minutes later when a misplaced Jake Cooper pass was intercepted by Tyrhus Dolan, who laid it off to Tronstrad to score another long-range strike.

Neil was disappointed with how his side conceded some of the goals.

“Goals change games,” Neil said. “At the start of the game, I thought they had two opportunities, which I was really disappointed in.

“Tyrhus Dolan gets a header and with the greatest respect to Tyrhus, he’s not particularly big, so I’d expect us to deal with that better. The wee lad [Yuki Ohashi] up top for them gets another header as well. So that was their two opportunities in probably about the first ten, maybe

twelve minutes of the game.

“After that I thought we had probably four, maybe even five opportunities to score. They get a block from one that was arrowing into the bottom corner. We’ve got Mihailo [Ivanovic] clean through one on one with the goalkeeper, doesn’t pick up the finish. We had a header, the keeper palms it out. So we certainly had three or four moments where we could cause a problem.

“Then they get the goal right before halftime. At that point I thought we responded well, we go up the other end, get the next goal and then at that point I think it’s 43, 44 minutes on the clock, see it out to halftime. Any team, any division, get your goal right before half-time, perfect, get in at half-time, let’s have a conversation. We then concede.

“The problem with that is we then need to continue to really push and go for it at the start of the second half, get the next goal and we get the next chance. Josh Coburn, the ball comes in from Femi [Azeez], it’s

a great opportunity for him. I don’t know if he just doesn’t get his feet right and he catches himself under it. But looking back, I thought it was a great opportunity for him to get an equaliser. If he does, goals change the shift of games, don’t they?

“Then the third goal basically took the game away from us really. It’s really frustrating for me because it starts in the bottom left-hand corner and I can’t remember any time really, there’s maybe one or two that they literally played right through. We had three, four, five opportunities really to stop it, and we didn’t make any good tackle to get in the way of the ball, they then score the goal.

“I think it’s probably one of the very few times since I’ve been here that we looked as if we lacked a little belief after that for me. We make a really bad decision to take a short goal kick, basically gift them the ball, pass straight to them and then they set it and they score. That just took the game away from us at that stage. That was pretty much it.

“Ten minutes before half-time conceded two, ten minutes after half-time conceded two and that basically decided the game.

What you could see is after they scored their goals, they felt a bit confident. We were a bit flat naturally and it made it feel a lot worse than what it probably actually was.”

Alex Neil: Millwall lacked ‘a little belief’ in Blackburn Rovers loss SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP 42’, Tronstad Blackburn - 4 Hyam 45’+1’, 59’ Brittain 50’ Millwall - 1 Ivanovic 45+4’ Date: Friday 18 April 25 Man of the Match: Sondre Tronstad Attendance: 14,167 (986) Referee: Lewis Smith

By Will Scott at Ewood Park ALEX NEIL thought Millwall lacked “a little belief” after conceding the third goal in their 4-1 loss to Blackburn Rovers, one of the few times he has seen that since he was appointed head coach.

After a relatively even opening 40 minutes, the Rovers opened the scoring via a Dom Hyam header in the 42nd minute.

The Lions hit back instantly, with Mihailo Ivanovic scoring the equaliser after some good work by Femi Azeez and a neat flick

by Casper De Norre. Parity was short-

Millwall: 4-4-2 – G.Evans; Leonard, Crama, Cooper, Harding; Honeyman, Mitchell (Saville 57), De Norre (Emakhu 64), Azeez (Connolly 74); Coburn, Ivanovic (Cundle 64) Unused Substitutes: Przewozny, Hutchinson, Wintle, Langstaff, Drake Blackburn Rovers: 4-2-3-1 - Toth; Brittain (Pickering 72), Hyam, Batth, Ribeiro; Tronstad (Buckley 85), Travis (Forshaw 65); Hedges (Woodrow 65), Cantwell, Dolan; Ohashi (Gueye 72) Unused Substitutes: Peaks, RankinCostello, Sanderson, Cozier-Duberry, Woodrow

Photo by Millwall FC

IVANOVIC EYES MORE GOALS AFTER NORWICH BRACE The Serbian striker remains tight-lipped on season target -

INSIDE

Sport Southwark

PAGE 29

‘STRANGER THINGS HAVE HAPPENED’

Millwall have won four out of their last fi ve games

Millwall reignite play-off bid by beating Norwich as their rivals suffer shock Easter Monday setbacks

By Will Scott ALEX NEIL said “stranger things have happened” when asked if Millwall were back in the play-off hunt after their 3-1 win against Norwich City at The Den on Easter Monday, and revealed he told his team results across the league were going their way at half-time.

The Lions’ play-off hopes looked to be in tatters after a 4-1 loss to Blackburn Rovers on Good Friday left them six points off sixth-placed Coventry City with three games remaining in the season.

However, Millwall revived those hopes by powering past the Canaries via a Mihailo Ivanovic brace and a rare Femi Azeez headed goal, and were helped by their fellow play-off contenders faltering.

Coventry, Bristol City and West Bromwich Albion lost to bottom four sides on Monday, April 21, while Middlesbrough were defeated 2-1 by Sheffield Wednesday, leaving the Lions just three points off the Sky Blues, who face Boro on the final day of the season.

When asked if Millwall were back in the play-off race, Neil said: “When you say a lot’s got to happen, a lot happened today. If those results didn’t happen today, it wouldn’t have mattered.

“But the bit that we needed where a lot had to happen, it happened. More importantly, some of those teams have still got to play each other, so we can go and win the next game and take it to the last game. Stranger things have happened in football.

“What we’ve got to do, and I said this to the lads before the game, is

don’t approach the game lightly and at the end of it have a regret in the fact everything went in our favour.

“It’s interesting because at half-time I got told that everyone was in our favour and I was deciding in my head whether to tell them or not. And I did tell them and the reason I told them is I’m thinking if I was a player, I want to know what’s riding on this game. I told them right before they went out in the second half and I think you could see that determination and hunger they had to get across the line.”

Neil praised his side for putting in a much improved performance after a disappointing setback at Blackburn, saying it was a “privilege” to coach them.

“Belief sort of stems from performances and winning,” Neil said.

“When you don’t get them and you

don’t perform and you don’t win, I think naturally belief starts to take a little bit of a dent.

“But what builds belief back up is determination, organisation, putting everything on the line, working as hard as you possibly can - all the fundamentals that really make a successful team, and I think we’ve got all those ingredients. What we just need is a bit of time together as a group.

“I said to the lads afterwards and I’ve been in this a long time in terms of football, it’s a privilege to coach them at the minute. Just in terms of their application, their attitude, how they approach training, how they treat each other in and amongst the building, what their appetite is like.

Every sort of facet you can think of the game. They’re a really brilliant group.”

MAGIC WAND SAVES HAMLET PAGE 29 Lukas Jensen to miss ‘a fair chunk of next season’

By Will Scott LUKAS JENSEN tore his achilles and will miss a “fair chunk of next season”, Alex Neil said after Millwall’s 3-1 win against Norwich City on Easter Monday.

Jensen, 26, has made 43 appearances this season, but sustained the injury ahead of the Lions’ 4-1 loss to Blackburn Rovers on Good Friday.

Back-up goalkeeper Liam Roberts is also out with a hip flexor injury, meaning nineteen-year-old academy goalkeeper George Evans has been called upon in the Lions’ past two games.

When asked how long term he expects Jensen’s injury to be, Neil said: “As long term as a ruptured achilles takes, which is not pretty soon.

“It’s going to be a fair chunk of next season.”

Midfielders George Honeyman and Billy Mitchell also missed the Lions’ win against the Canaries, after the duo started against Blackburn.

Honeyman has made 43 appearances this season, while Mitchell has made 22. Both of their contracts are set to expire at the end of the season.

Neil does not think either will be available for the final two games of the campaign.

“Billy felt his calf, that’s why I took him off at Blackburn,” Neil said. “Then George yesterday, right before we went into eleven versus eleven work in terms of preparation for this game, he stretched for a ball and just felt his hamstring and unfortunately both couldn’t make it.”

When asked if they could feature in Millwall’s last two games of the season, Neil said: “I think they’re going to struggle.”

Lukas Jensen made 41 Championship appearances this season THE RECYCLED PAPER CONTENT OF UK NEWSPAPERS IN 2014 WAS 83.5%