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Dramatic halt to Twickenham Riverside plans

10:01am Wednesday 21st October 2009 in News Exclusive By Joanna Kilvington

Delay: Council leader Serge Lourie has halted plans to redevelop Twickenham Riverside Delay: Council leader Serge Lourie has halted plans to redevelop Twickenham Riverside

The controversial plans to redevelop Twickenham Riverside have been halted until next Summer.

At a meeting of the full council last night, council leader Serge Lourie announced he would not be signing a contract with the proposed developers, Countryside Properties, before summer 2010, allowing people to have their say on the development in the next election.

Coun Lourie said the decision would enable him to keep his pledge not to authorize the contract until he was satisfied with the accounts of the developers and their parent company Copthorn Holdings.

He said: “I have agreed with the deputy chairman of the company that we will not sign a contract until we have examined, with external advisers, the accounts to September 30, 2009. This is expected to be in summer 2010.

“The administration and Countryside Properties continue to be committed to this scheme, which will end 30 years of dereliction of this key riverside site, will contribute to the regeneration of Twickenham and bring a range of community benefits, all at no capital cost to the council tax payers.

“I’m very happy to fight in the election for this.”

More follows later.

• What do you think? Let us know by email (gholt@london.newsquest.co.uk), phone the newsdesk on 020 8744 24272 or leave a comment below.

Comments(4)

Phillip Taylor says...
12:07pm Wed 21 Oct 09

Thank you, Cllr Lourie- you have just lost the next local elections. Finally, this is the right decision not to sign the contract and it will clearly now be one of the main issues in the May 2010 elections.

It is a tribute to Cllr True's tenacity throughout that this sorry saga has forced Serge's hand. No one should sign a contract based on the financial statement made by CP.

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Julie Hill says...
12:51pm Wed 21 Oct 09

Delighted that Cllr Lourie has acted on the motion put forward by the community. He says his scheme has no capital cost to tax payers - nor do the community led schemes.

As the local election is some seven months away, I call on him to start to engage with the community and allow the site to be opened up NOW so work can begin transforming this into what the public want.

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Sue H-M says...
10:38pm Wed 21 Oct 09

So nothing changes. We still await up to date accounts from Countryside to see how they have fared through the recession. The Environment Trust has been given yet another 9-12 months to try and come up with a viable business plan. The election is nothing to do with it. These two groups will be scrutinised by the public, the opposition groups and the Mayor of London, in just the same way next summer, whoever wins the local election next May. At least, if the Conservatives are elected, we understand that there is the possibility of a change of direction on the Riverside site with the emphasis being placed on what the public wants. So sorry Cllr Lourie, the people will have their say whatever the results of the election.

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mark mellor says...
12:42am Thu 22 Oct 09

This Borough is up for grabs at the next election to any party who listens to the people. i.e. not the lib dems

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