Opposition parties call for council rethink over Twickenham Riverside plans

10:32am Wednesday 8th July 2009

By Joanna Kilvington

Opposition parties have united to call on the council to rethink plans to build housing on Twickenham Riverside.

Twickenham’s opposition party members have joined together to praise the “outstanding” Twickenham Riverside independent referendum results - which saw 93.5 per cent of people vote against selling the land for private housing.

Tory parliamentary candidate Deborah Thomas, Brian Tomlinson from Twickenham Labour Party and Steve Roest of Richmond and Twickenham Green Party said the results of an independent referendum - where 93.5 per cent of respondents voted against selling land on the riverside for private housing - were "outstanding"

In a joint statement they said: “We are absolutely delighted with this outstanding and definitive result.

"After months of the Lib Dem council telling us it had the backing of the community, this result sends a clear message that the council must now go back to the drawing board and come up with a solution that people actually want.

“Once again, the three major opposition candidates are coming together to support residents and continue our campaign against luxury housing on the riverside site.”

The independently-run referendum was sent to more than 4,000 households last month and asked the question “Should public land be sold to a property development company?”.

It was launched following the council’s decision in April to select contractors Countryside Properties to build 32 luxury homes on the riverside.

However, despite the result and the alliance of the three parliamentary candidates, council leader Serge Lourie stood firm saying the development plans would go ahead.

He said: “This referendum result is simply not valid - it was biased, misleading and carefully selected just 3 per cent of the borough’s population in order to get the result the organisers wanted.

“We have carefully decided to develop the site in such a way that it will enhance the riverside, add value to the community and the borough as a whole and all without costing money we simply do not have.

“We intend to go ahead with this development, as I have no doubt the majority of borough residents would wish to do so, when they have all the facts.”