Campaigners out in force against planned closure
BATTLE CONTINUES TO KEEP RAIL LINE
16 July 2009 Anthony Phillips Southwark News
Campaigners were out in force this week, demonstrating against the planned closure of the South London Line (SLL).
Residents and politicians leafleted outside Peckham Rye Train Station and other stations on the line’s route, which connects London Bridge to Victoria, to gather support for the campaign. The ‘News’ has reported previously how a deal was struck between the Department for Transport and Transport for London, to divert £24m that was set to preserve the SLL and plug a funding gap in phase two of the extension to the East London Line.
London Assembly Member for Southwark and Lambeth, Val Shawcross, said this week that TfL was putting the decision into review.
MPs Harriet Harman and Tessa Jowell, Assembly Members Val Shawcross and Caroline Pidgeon, and rail campaigner Eileen Conn are due to meet transport minister Lord Adonis next Tuesday, to ask him to re-think the plan, which could see the SLL closed by 2012. They have also requested a meeting with London Mayor Boris Johnson.
The campaign now has 2,000 signatures, a Facebook page and website.