Back to 1981 on Twickenham Riverside

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 31st Jul 2002

The decision by Richmond Council's Tory group to abandon the Twickenham Riverside scheme takes the Council back to 1981 when the Tory administration closed Twickenham Baths.

People in Twickenham have repeatedly asked for an end to the blight on this key riverside site. Now after 21 years the Tories have gone back to where they started – with a derelict swimming pool and no plans for the future.

The Dawnay Day scheme, that the Tories have pulled the plug on, returned public swimming and a cinema to Twickenham. Restaurants, shops and public open space would have enlivened this attractive site. The car park behind Abbey National and a break through from King Street would have been added to the Council's freehold land. And Twickenham would have had an enormous boost from the end of the blight on the riverside. And all at no cost to the Council.

Lib Dem Councillor Sir David Williams, Leader of the Council until 2001, said, "Not only have the Tories written off nearly half a million pounds of costs that they would have got back from the development, £5 million of public assets in the Dawnay Day scheme have been thrown away. And to make it worse they haven't any alternative to offer the public. In opposition they supported laying out the land as temporary open space until they could think of something better. The Twickenham Riverside Terrace scheme is similar except most of the unattractive buildings are kept."

Councillor Serge Lourie, Leader of the Opposition, condemned The Tories' financial recklessness, saying: "The Liberal Democrats worked very hard to bring back public swimming and a cinema back to Twickenham, and make the riverside a lively catalyst for improving Twickenham. It is deeply ironic that Tony Arbour was one of the Tories who voted to close Twickenham Baths in 1981, and has now blighted this site for even longer in 2002."