Fifty new council homes are empty because of a five-month row about gas supplies. With North Thames Gas, the council and the building firm deadlocked, all 255 homes on the West End Sidings Estate, West Hampstead, could be completed and left

16 April 1982

Fifty new council homes are empty because of a five-month row about gas supplies. With North Thames Gas, the council and the building firm deadlocked, all 255 homes on the West End Sidings Estate, West Hampstead, could be completed and left vacant if the argument grinds on.

Nine gipsy families camping on Camden's Swiss Cottage site face eviction - and a writ for damages for repairs and rubbish clearance. The site is earmarked for a development which will raise about £4 million for the council.

Maximum attendance at the rebuilt Alexandra Palace would be strictly limited to 7,500 people, the general manager tells the public inquiry. Residents say that on at least one occasion almost twice as many people were let into the building as were allowed under fire regulations.