Riverside given back to people (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)
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Part of Twickenham Riverside given back to the people
4:14pm Tuesday 6th July 2010 in News By Joanna Kilvington
Delighted: Richmond Council leader Nicholas True with Trevor Baylis
A piece of Twickenham Riverside locked away for 20 years has been opened up as part of the new Conservative council’s promise to give the land back to the people.
The stretch of land, in front of former bath house buildings on the site, has been cleared and opened up less than a month after the previous administration’s plans to build luxury homes on the site were scrapped.
Having been locked up since 1980, the land on the corner of Water Lane was cleared and weeded and opened up as a sun terrace this week.
Richmond Council leader Nicholas True, leader of Richmond Council, said: “I promised back in May that we would boot the developers off the people’s riverside and immediately take steps to give it back to local residents.
“Very soon we will begin involving local residents in deciding the future for the whole site.
“But in the meantime, I’m delighted to say this will now be one more small piece of our beautiful riverside that local people can now enjoy.
“The new seats overlooking the river and the flower garden provide a pleasant summer setting.”
Improvements to the site have included the trimming down of the hedge and the installation of benches so visitors can enjoy a view of the river and Eel Pie Island.
The paving has been cleaned and weeded and new shrubs have been planted to mask the building at the back of the plot.
Eel Pie resident and inventor Trevor Baylis, who was at the opening of the land on Monday, said: “It’s great - it’s a good start.”
He was joined by riverside campaigners who had fought against the former Liberal Democrats decision to build 32 homes and a river centre on the former Twickenham pool site.
The decision to clear the land was one of four rulings made on the future of Twickenham Riverside at a cabinet meeting last month, which included the decision to give formal notice to proposed developers Countryside Properties that the controversial housing project had been scrapped.
However, the decisions have been called in by Lib Dem councillors Arnie Gibbons and David Williams, who raised a number of issues including the financial cost of any new scheme.
They will be discussed at a special meeting of the finance and performance overview and scrutiny committee on Tuesday.
Comments(6)
Julie Hill
says...
4:48pm Tue 6 Jul 10
Residents are celebrating the start of Twickenham Riverside being given back to the people.
What a shame that David Williams, who is only still a councillor by the skin of his teeth and Arnie Gibbons - new to the council but old style Lib Dem are still so entrenched in their negative and tired "effective opposition" tactics.
How can opening up a terrace and adding a few plants possibly be a financial catastrophe for residents?
The legacy of what their rotten Administration has left behind - including the "linked sites" that have no link anymore is absolutely shameful.
This is the party that wanted to exclude social rented housing from Twickenham Riverside in order to flog it off for maximum profit - without any care for what the electorate wanted - to a developer that couldn't provide accounts.
I suggest that Williams, Gibbons and their little friends try to emulate what the Leader of their Party is doing in National Government.
Or actually - carry on sniping so you have no chance of being re-elected.
Vinnie
says...
6:13pm Tue 6 Jul 10
Phillip Taylor
says...
10:16am Wed 7 Jul 10
Obviously the Liberals feel they must 'oppose' for the sake of it, although it was their decsion to leave the site in such a mess for so long and then come up with a botched scheme which no one wanted.
Good luck to Nick True and the Conservatives who are showing some proper leadership in this borough for a change.
Phillip Taylor
nlait
says...
8:37pm Wed 7 Jul 10
The past is the past and much water has of course flowed under the bridge. However, it is time to move on and to move on together preferably as one in a positive fashion, working together for the Twickenham community.
Cllr. True has kept his word and should be warmly congratulated for that. It is a rarity in politics today, whether locally or nationally.
A simple scheme of clearing a small part of a site which has been locked up for nearly 30 years, cleared, with seating and shrubs should be welcomed by all.
By taking, quite sensibly, one small step at a time, hopefully this dreadful blot on the Twickenham landscape for nearly three decades can be restored for all Borough residents to enjoy once again.
Phillip Taylor
says...
2:03pm Thu 8 Jul 10
It is now time to move on and it's just a great pity that the Liberals here remain isolated by the more positive politics on display nationally by Nick Clegg and his Parliamentary colleagues.
It would be nice to think that the national coalition agreement would have some effect here in Richmond, too, but it does not seem to have got through to Cllr Knight and his mates yet judging by some of the letters in the local press- the Liberals are still living in the past.
The Conservatives have taken this one small step and we should be congratulating them and supporting their new approach which is sure-footed and sensible as a policy.
Phillip Taylor
MacGregor says...
4:31pm Tue 6 Jul 10
Having been resoundingly rejected at the ballot box by the electorate who also rejected their luxury housing scheme on part of Twickenham Riverside, the Lib Dems are now trying to place every obstacle at their disposal to challenge Twickenham Riverside being given to the people.
This is straight out of Lib Dems codified book of ‘dirty tricks’ – entitled “Effective Opposition” – with its mantra of “be wicked, act shamelessly, stir endlessly”, engage in negative campaigning, and “exaggerate”.