My View on the Riverside Scheme

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 1st Aug 2002

"The decision by the new Tory Cabinet to pull the plug on the Liberal Democrat/Dawnay Day proposed scheme for the Riverside is sad but predictable."

"The final Development Brief for the site, agreed in February 2001 following extensive public consultation, was ambitious and would have brought back public swimming and cinemas to the town, together with a host of other public benefits - in exchange for a 125 year lease and at no charge to the Council taxpayer. It was widely welcomed by both local residents and businesses, who will now be very disappointed that the new Council feels unable to bring negotiations with Dawnay Day to a satisfactory conclusion."

"Nevertheless, the decision is understandable, particularly in the light of the call-in of the planning application by the Secretary of State."

"In opposition, the Tories opposed this scheme for short-term political gain - misrepresenting the case as a sale by the Council for just £750,000 and using this lie to attack the Liberal Democrats with no thought for the future of Twickenham or the benefits to residents. In power, their local literature still persists with the lie that the Liberal Democrats had planned to "give away" the site and they would stop it."

"Lib Dem Councillor for Twickenham Riverside Ward said "I am horrified at the prospect of this important site, which has been derelict for 20 years, remaining a blot on the landscape for yet more years. But I do not want the future of the most important Council owned site in the Borough, with its unique characteristics and setting, to be the subject of a political bun fight between the Tories and the Liberal Democrats.

Elected councillors should be working collaboratively on this, and I have therefore asked the Cabinet that before they rush into any ill thought out, temporary development of the site, they work with ward councillors, local residents and the business community in an open and transparant way, to seek a consensus on the way forward.

Anything else would be an abject failure of political leadership and community vision, and would be totally unacceptable." Cllr Denise Carr cllr.DCarr@richmond.gov.uk