A request under the Freedom of Information Act to see the business plan for the proposed Twickenham River Centre has been turned down in order to avoid “ridicule” and “adverse public reaction”.

Residents sent a request to see the full plans to the Environment Trust, the charity which would run the educational riverside centre Richmond Council wants to see built on the fomer swimming pool site.

But campaigners against the council’s plans were stunned when they received a reply denying them access, reasoning that if details were released it might cause the proposals to be ridiculed.

The reasons for denying the request included:

  • Withholding information outweighed the public interest in disclosing it.
  • The document was still unfinished and its data incomplete.
  • Releasing financial plans for the use of public land was not in the public interest while it was still being drafted.
  • More time was needed to develop thinking and explore communications and discuss the matter with other parties.
  • There needed to be gaps to “think the unthinkable” and use imagination without the fear proposals would be held up to ridicule
  • Premature disclosure of preliminary thinking could close off better options because of adverse public reaction.

Residents made the request after Richmond Council’s scrutiny committee gave approval to the financial soundness of the plan, based on a document only 30 per cent complete last November.

Julie Hill, who lives in Sherland Road which is set to have affordable housing built on it to allow for luxury homes to pay for the River Centre, said: “I’ve never heard such baloney before in my life.

“It strikes me that they haven’t got a proper business plan, and this was what the council scrutiny committee was asked to base its decision on? Think the unthinkable’ what’s that? That it’s going to sink?

“The ridicule is perhaps what happens if the River Centre floats down the river or if no one goes to the restaurant, or perhaps if the council take it for itself.”

“It’s just another way of the council controlling the scheme and withholding vital information from the public.

Serge Lourie, leader of Richmond Council, said the reason the full plan had yet to be published was to stop the opposition party from trying to sabotage the River Centre.

He said: “As a council we area as open as possible and we are in discussion with the Environment Trust about the publication of the working document that goes beyond the published business plan.

“We have been appalled by the behaviour of a number of Conservatives who have tried to put improper pressure on organisations that wish to support the proposed River Centre.

“This intolerable behaviour is an outrage and a disgrace and is the reason why we are concerned about publishing current pieces of organisational information.”