Here's a letter from the senior responsible Council officer in July 1999, telling Dr Neal of Honor Oak Health Centre that the "problem" was solved, following, guess what, a public consultation on the future of the burials service in Southwark...

And here is what they promised.... if Southwark Council took another 3 acres of Honor Oak Rec (5.5 acres had already gone in 1992), they would then also start making sustainable use of the existing cemeteries, for example using grave spaces that had been bought but never used, and that together all this would last for "25 to 50 years" (so until 2025 or 2050) and that "Once this provision has been exhausted cremation will become the only option."

They did take another 3 acres (plus) of public open land - but following public outcry, they took this from the Old Nurseries Site, not the Rec, which was the least worst option they would offer. And that big chunk of land has apparently been used up completely between 2001 and 2011? Not 25 to 50 years then. A good question to ask might be: at what point was it realised that the plan laid out in the attached letter was not, apparently, going to work? Who realised, when, and how was it reported?

I do think people should be aware of just how much park land they are selling as grave plots, how quickly it goes, and that if they did take the rest of the Rec, it would be gone in a flash and then they will be after Peckham Rye. Southwark is the only local authority in the whole of the UK that is even thinking about selling off parks for graves.