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11
(Various Powers) Bill, passed the Houses of Parliament and
received the Royal Assent.
The Board, after careful consideration and after receiving
Memorials from Ratepayers upon the subject,
determined to oppose the Bill of the South Eastern Railway
Company, unless the Company would agree to increase the
width of the proposed new bridges in the District, and
also would, in constructing the proposed widenings, so reconstruct
the bridges in Loampit Vale and High Street,
Lewisham, as to deaden the noise caused by trains passing
over them, which noise had in the past caused frequent
accidents; and would also agree to erect a station on their
main line at or near High Street, Lewisham.
Station accommodation on the Main Line had long been
demanded by the public, and the Board were strongly urged
by public meetings and otherwise to insist upon this being
provided.
The Company refused to entertain any proposal with regard
to these improvements, and the Board had, consequently,
to petition against the Bill and oppose the same before a Committee
of the House of Commons, when, after a lengthened
struggle, clauses were inserted in the Bill compelling the
Company to considerably widen the bridges before referred
to, in some cases to double them; also compelling them, in
all new bridges, to make them water-tight and noiseless, as
far as possible, and in addition, a Parliamentary undertaking
was given by the Counsel for the Railway Company that a
station should be erected on their main line so soon as the
widenings should be opened, somewhere between the High
Street, Lewisham, and the fork of the Railway near Hither
Green Lane.
The Southwark and Vauxhall Water Bill was proceeded
with to a considerable extent, and substituted plans were
lodged with the Board, which considerably reduced the
opposition of the Board to the scheme, but the Bill was ultimately
thrown out of the House of Commons without the
same being referred to a select Committee.