Ciara Dempsey, 10, Kermilla Chenia, 11, Jack Dempsey, 13, and nine-year-old Sophia Elliott LE5965/B
CRIES of "shame" and "cowards" from the public gallery met Labour councillors as they voted down a motion to save Ladywell Leisure Centre.
The Labour group voted en masse to reject a proposal which would allow alternative sites for a new school to be considered and for the swimming pool to remain open until a
replacement was up and running.
At the full council meeting on October 20, a packed public gallery heckled Labour councillors and cheered opposition members throughout the two-hour debate on the future of the pool and school.
At one point chairman Councillor Les Eytle threatened to adjourn the meeting and clear the gallery after anger flared when Councillor Stephen Padmore accused campaigners of trying to fail the borough.
Councillors made speeches pleading with their Labour colleagues to vote with their conscience and to give the idea of finding an alternative site for the new school a chance.
Green Party member Councillor Darren Johnson said: "It is quite clear Labour has failed to find an acceptable site but with our few resources we have presented a number of very credible solutions which don't rely on losing vital leisure facilities or depriving children in the north of the borough."
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But the Labour group defeated the united opposition parties by 29 to 12 votes, despite there being 11 ruling members absent on the night.
Lewisham Mayor Steve Bullock argued against the need to delay the school, he said: "It is time for us to get on with this."
Tory group leader Councillor Barrie Anderon called the decision another broken promise while Ladywell ward councillor Andrew Milton said people power had shown unhappiness with the mayor.
Save Ladywell Pool organiser Max Calo has vowed to continue the fight to keep it open.
He said: "As expected they didn't see the light but we're planning to start legal action against this and will fight it at every step."
Out with the old, in with the school
The proposed closure of the Ladywell pool was announced in July this year when the previous site for the new secondary school fell through.
The facility is set to be pulled down in 2007 and re-open as a four-form entry school in 2009.
Campaigners for the new school feel the Ladywell site is unsuitable and in the wrong part of the borough, while leisure centre supporters want the pool to remain open until a new town centre replacement in completed.
Twenty alternative sites were put forward after the mayor challenged councillors to find somewhere else to build the school but officers rejected them all.
Opposition members called on the council to look at four options in more detail they included a floating school on the Thames, the Lewisham College site, Convoys Wharf and land by Lewisham Bridge.
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