Working with local campaigners to save the Royal Surrey County Hospital’s A&E department from closure. A 6,000-strong rally, packed public meetings and a candle-lit vigil at Parliament all forced the local Primary Care Trust to keep the area’s vital resource open.
Strangely this quote has disappeared from his website, but Google still has a cache of it.
Spotted by eagle-eyed reader David Porter.
Filed under blackheath
Video of the South London Healthcare NHS Trust statement in House of Commons
22m51s – Bob Neil Conservative, Bromley and Chislehurst
24m50s – Dame Joan Ruddock – Labour, Lewisham and Deptford
28m18s – Bob Stewart – Conservative, Beckenham
29m56s – Heidi Alexander – Labour, Lewisham East
31m58s – Simon Hughes – Liberal Democrat, Bermondsey and Old Southwark
34m12s – Tessa Jowell – Dulwich and West Norwood
37m18s – Stephen Dorrell – Chair, Health Committee
38m37s – Jim Dowd – Labour, Lewisham West and Penge
41m52s – Nick de Bois – Conservative, Enfield North
42m48s – Clive Efford – Labour, Eltham
44m05s – Nick Raynsford – Labour, Greenwich and Woolwich
45m12s – Teresa Pearce – Labour, Erith and Thamesmead
47m27s – Kate Hoey – Labour, Vauxhall
49m38s – Kevin Barron – Labour, Rother Valley
Filed under blackheath, lewisham
Jeremy Hunt’s plans for Lewisham Hospital:
A&E to be downgraded to a non-admitting Urgent Care Centre.
Maternity unit to be downgraded by 90% to a midwife-led birthing centre.
Read the full paper here.
You can watch the video of Jeremy Hunt’s performance in the House of Commons today
On youtube here
here. You’ll need Silverlight installed, and you need to scroll to 11:33. You’ll be able to see the outrage of many London MPs at what is being pushed through.
James Cleverly’s astonishingly ill-judged tweet (Conservative member of the London Assembly):
Heidi Alexander, before the announcement:
But it’s not over. As the Lewisham Lib Dems put it:
To which Darryl1974 suggested
And Heidi Alexander suggested the same thing on her blog:
“There is also a big legal question about whether the Secretary of State has the power to axe vital services at Lewisham based on the administration process that has taken place.
I know that Lewisham Council have threatened the Secretary of State with judicial review proceedings.
It seems to me that this decision could still be challenged in the courts and I will be seeking an urgent update from Lewisham Council about their plans.”
And a statement from Mayor Bullock today:
“I do not believe that the TSA had the statutory power to make recommendations about Lewisham Hospital and the Secretary of State therefore has no power to implement them.
“I will be talking to our lawyers and we will also of course need to talk to our colleagues at Lewisham Hospital in order to fully understand the implications of Mr Hunt’s statement.”
Good to see the Evening Standard informing and educating the metropolis:
So what to do? Suggestions below please.
Title of this blog pinched from KierShiels:
Filed under blackheath, lewisham, politics
From 38 degrees:
Across London, NHS services are under threat. Right now, the health secretary Jeremy Hunt is considering scrapping vital services at Lewisham Hospital. If he does, 750,000 Londoners could have just one casualty department between them.
We’ve only got a few hours to stop him – he could be making the decision tomorrow. So far, over 13,000 members of 38 Degrees have asked Hunt to keep Lewisham’s services open. And last Saturday, an amazing 25,000 people turned out to line Lewisham’s streets in protest.
Don’t let Jeremy Hunt close vital Lewisham NHS services. Email him now here: http://38d.gs/nhs-lewisham
Filed under blackheath
Black Vanilla (the new-ish ice cream gelataria shop in the village) is having an easter egg hunt tomorrow. You can see the posters in their window, and the full range of posters are also on Lost In Style’s blog (the people who designed Black Vanilla’s branding).
There’s nothing on Black Vanilla’s website about the egg hunt, but it was mentioned on their twitter account a couple of days back.
It starts at 9am, and from the look of the designer’s site, a series of little tags will be hidden around the village. Then we get to hunt for them, and bring them to the shop in return for free goodies, such as:
It says there’s a maximum of 5 tags per winner, so presumably there will be quite a few dotted around.
(PS: Back from hols…)
Filed under blackheath, events, food, things to do
There’s a plan to replace a disused football field with a load of houses. This greenfield site (i.e. open land that has never been built on before), needs access from Manor Way and Brooklands Park. The developers “Derreb“, have filed a lawsuit against the Blackheath Cator Estate Residents, saying that they must allow access. According to the Cator newsletter:
“The original conveyance of the Huntsman land contained a restrictive covenant restricting its use to that of a sports field, or “detached houses for use as private residence only, such buildings to be erected in such a position and in accordance with such plans and
elevations, including general layout and development plans as shall first be submitted to, and approved, at the Purchaser’s expense by the Vendor’s Surveyor.”BCER has drawn the existence of this covenant to Derreb’s attention, including the fact that as purchaser of the roads from the John Cator Estate, it is now BCER’s surveyor from whom approval is required. Derreb have said they intend applying to the Lands Tribunal to have this restrictive covenantmodified or discharged.”
And according to the developers environmental report:
Provisional of 141 residential units including:
A range of houses and flat types from between 1 and 4 bedrooms
The newsletter says:
Derreb says it has submitted a revised planning application, and is holding two meetings to exhibit what it terms the ‘final plans’ at St Michael & All Angels Church Hall from 6pm to 9pm on 1 and 4 February.
Which is another Beware of the Leopard moment…
Planning laws in this country are a joke. It is a battle of professionals against amateurs. They are designed to allow large developers to bully local councils with lawsuits, and allow repeated re-applications, in such away that the developers have very little to lose, and small groups cannot win.
Filed under blackheath, greenwich, planning
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The Blackheath Bugle 