Opposition parties call for council rethink over Twickenham Riverside plans (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

From the early meetings at St. Marys church, there has always been a strong opposition to this scheme. Serge Lourie has treated the majority of residents with contempt.He has now signed the death warrant for Lib Dems in this borough

I think it's all about money, nothing else. Anyone who'd care about the area wouldn't even think about spoiling it.

Serge Lourie and his rotten Administration have a secret agenda, which will not make for pleasant reading.

This Administration is planning to sign the contract even before planning permission for its deeply unpopular scheme has even been submitted.

I encourage all readers who are against the sale of public land to Countryside Properties to:

a) do a bit of research into this company
b) write to Serge Lourie (cllr.slourie@richmo
nd.gov.uk) to protest
c) SUPPORT the COMMUNITY PROPOSAL PLANNING APPLICATION that is currently on the LBRuT website - application number: 09/0914/FUL.

The community led application makes excellent use of existing provision, offers something for everyone, gives every opportunity to truly regenerate Twickenham, enhances biodiversity and nature conservation, does not move the playground onto a flood plain and does not include exlusive luxury housing.

The arrogance of this administration is breathtaking. It is our land. We do not want it sold. DO NOT SELL IT

Come on Mr Lourie, do the right thing, clearly you saying the rest of the Borough getting the facts they would think differently, does this differ from the 93.5% of the population locally affected by your dumping a river of concrete on them and consigning the town of Twickenham 1000 years of blight by blocking off the town from the river a message enough?

I bet anything if you had a private conversation with at least two of your local councillors, at least the two who are seen at all, or if you even bothered to talk randomly to local residents, why not even join us in the town, we can do it together, unsolicited, then you would learn a lot more in half an hour, rather then defending the position, but to actually listen to them in silence without interruption, then you as your two other councilors active in the area would actually learn the truth about this (privately they already know this to be the case, I asked Cllr David Trigg to join us on the Abey corner on Saturday to listen to the local electorate, he refused!

How about agreing to a public meeting to prove the point? we can arange this before all of the schools break up?

Or is there something you aren't telling us Mr Lourie, there is now extreme suspicion from teh community that either you or Mr Cable must have a personal vested interest you haven't declared in the selling off of the public land, as your Lib Dem colleagues and yourself have tried to do for the last 20 years?

Who is really getting the benefit from this? Is there another reason why you refuse the public their own wishes for the land to be managed by and for the people as a public amentity space, as a Town Square, as a deperately needed youth amenity, as a Market square to amplify the real best parts of the local artisan Twickenham industry, we are all realy proud to be part of through arts and crafts markets, through ice-rinks in the winter, through public performance and rehearsal space?

If you put a massive concrete block in the way you are stopping any chance of redeveloping Twickenham Town Centre of the shopping experience it deserves, as clearly Twickenham needs a carbuncle of a River Centre smack in the middle of our Riverside like a hole in the head, as you will find by using your two ears and your two ears rather than spewing worthless self-posessed rhetoric. Are the Presidents' clothes missing, 93.5^ however you want to see it can see your dishonest game, using a local charity whose founder's purpose we love as a Trojan Horse to build a lego-style cheap cost flat-pack housing to dominate the small patch of grass left.

Forget about being judged at the ballot box Mr Lourie, Mr Cable is also being judge alongside you, you have already been judged by the local electorate on one of the most important local issues of the last 20 plus years. The Twickenham Riverside is THE major Twickenham issue, and you appear so bloody-minded that you force us to more and more hard-nosed ways of making you listen, forcing us to put our hands in our own pockets, and you dare snear at the local populace for doing so. What will it take Mr Lourie, you have already ruled out holding your own referendum, twice, you clearly don't like the idea of beig thrashed as you have been to within a whisker of your electoral coucillor life.

We have already paid for a simple answer to a simple question, we have done your job for you, call yourself a leader now, last chance, and now act like one Mr Lourie, like you have just demonstrated with the parks U-turn, popular opinion has clearly been acted upon here, now do the same in Twickenham.

Prove what a real leader is made of, swallow that pride, bite the bullet, and halt this hated scheme before the summer holidays and you disaapear off yourself, don't leave it to one of your minions 'whilst you are away on holiday' to make the announcement of halting the scheme yourself now!

Show us you can be a humble leader and show us you really repect the community, stop this nonsense of clutching at strawes, prove you are human not a Marxist robot the local and borough community have seen you local councilors Trigg and Carr (also Cabinet members alongside you) become.

Twickenham Riverside is a very emotive subject at this time in our Local history and rightly so as most Twickenham folk actually have an interest in their environment and are against the councils proposed development of 32 luxury dwellings myself being included

The old pool site has been derelict will know for over 20 years Most of these by the present administration. This is their fourth attempt to dispose of this public land to a developer and no dought this will be the forth Failure.

Why did they not carry on where the previous administration left of with that superb children’s playground and excellent café that cost well in excess of one million pounds to produce. Had they done the democratic thing it would now be a welcoming park and meeting place for people’s use of all abilities and ages with safe flat areas for all to relax.
.
Should the councils chosen scheme go ahead most of the grassed area will be on a sloping roof and a small area beside the four story block of flats along Wharf lane. So there is no flat grassed area at all in the scheme. And the extra traffic will produce will make Twickenham town centre a very unwelcome place to visit.

To be continued

Dear Council, please listen to the bulk of public opinion and rethink the your plans for the Riverside. They are deeply unpopular and the continual arrogant approach of the Lib Dem council to refuse to discuss other options is staggering.

There has never been a mandate for the Council to sell public land to build a 2.5 million pound building for the Environment trust. In the Twickenham challenge the Environment trust was going to raise the money for the building themselves which would be fine as the need for the enabling housing would be vastly reduced.

If the council is determined to proceed they must at least wait until the business plan is proven. Time and time again only parts of it have been made public. The largest source of revenue, the RACC pulled out leaving a 32% hole in the original plan. Currently the Council is intending to sign a contract selling the land prior to the business plan being proven. If it is proven then be open and show the residents of Twickenham. If financially the centre fails, which is quite possible, Twickenham will have lost a fantastic site for the community and a chance at helping to reinvigorate the centre of Twickenham.

The Lib Dems have done some good things for the borough are they willing to squander them just to proceed with a plan that is clearly out of step with public opinion.

Richmond borough’s Lib Dem ethos is – if it moves, tax it, and if there’s open land, concrete over it.

I am bemused at Ratcatcher2’s claim that: “The Lib Dems have done some good things for the borough”. Leaving a £60m ‘black hole’ in the borough’s finances in 2002 was profligacy on a grand scale. If the council had been a private company, the Lib Dems left it within days of bankruptcy.

This borough has become grossly overdeveloped under the Lib Dems, but – considering they are “the council that hates cars” – it is illogical to build yet more dwellings as that leads to even more cars! As for the Lib Dems’ persecution of the motorist – they are attacking the wrong target. Instead of hitting credit-crunched families, they should aim their energy at bullying car manufacturers – and lobbying public transport providers such as extending the tube beyond Richmond.

However, I do agree with Ratcatcher2 that concreting over part of Twickenham Riverside - in the face of fierce public opposition - is inviting the electorate to boot them out of office next May.

Thought this may be of interest in the sense that the council has enlisted David Attenborough's help:
http://www.londons-a
rcadia.org.uk/about/
sir_david_attenborou
gh_message.htm