A £4m arts centre and a housing development with no houses for social rent will be built on the former sorting office site, prompting opposition councillors to accuse Richmond Council of “moral bankruptcy”.

The decision, which was narrowly voted through on August 1, will see 28 mock-Georgian terrace mansions, 66 luxury private flats, 16 shared ownership affordable homes and an arts centre and restaurants on the site opposite Twickenham station.

Leader of the opposition Councillor Stephen Knight said: “While many people will welcome the prospect of a new arts centre in Twickenham, for the council to secure such a facility at the price of keeping local families homeless is morally bankrupt.

“The former Royal Mail site in Twickenham was publicly owned land and therefore should be used predominantly for affordable homes, so this development of multi-million pound mock-Georgian mansions should have been rejected out of hand.

“Our local housing associations are crying out for the chance to develop sites like this for affordable homes and we have seen a doubling of the number of local families being put up in bed and breakfast in the past year alone.”

Sean Ellis, the chairman of developer St James, said if they provided more social rent houses they would have to provide less units.

He said: “St James is providing more than the maximum viable level of affordable housing on the application. We agreed to take this risk and proceed on this basis on the basis there was no review mechanism on the caveat that we started on site immediately.”

The project is part of Richmond Council’s Twickenham Area Action Plan which sets out an overall strategy for Twickenham town centre until 2027.

The council’s cabinet member for environment and planning, Councillor Virginia Morris, said: “We are absolutely delighted that a significant regeneration project is going ahead on land that has been derelict for so long.

“It is wonderful to know that the green corridor belt along the River Crane will be preserved. This is tremendous news for residents as the community building will bring more entertainment to the borough as it will give arts and culture a welcome boost.”

 

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