From the Twickenham Riverside Terrace Project Group
2 October, 2001
Dear Local Residents,
The planning application for the Twickenham Riverside Terrace was
approved in July by the Council's Planning Control Sub-Committee.
This proposal, conceived by a group of local residents, will provide
a landscaped public park fronted by a terrace at first floor level,
overlooking the river with arches below to house a cafe, toilets,
boat hire, etc. The grass, trees and water will make a beautiful oasis
adjacent to the town centre and a fine continuation of the Thames
riverscape.
This proposal is an alternative to the Dawnay Day Scheme, favoured
by the present Council administration, for a major development of
several 3- to 4- storey blocks to house 50 luxury flats and commercial
units. Such a large scale development would, we believe, be completely
out of scale and out of character with this very special riverside
setting. This is the third attempt by developers to build over this
public open space, and great efforts will be needed yet again to ensure
it does not succeed.
The most effective and potent ingredient in this campaign will be
the pressure of public opinion. Since the next Council election is
now due in less than nine months (May, 2002) the current incumbent
councillors will perhaps soon become more sensitive to the voice of
the electorate.
We welcome your views and comments on the proposal. Please come to
the meeting on Monday, 15 October. If you are able to offer your time,
skills, or expertise to the project, we would be delighted to hear
from you.
Alternatively, you may just wish to register your support.
Yours sincerely,
Ron Chappell, Julia Hathaway, Trevor Sutton, Clive Wren, Ken
Elmes, Henry Greenfield, Peter Boardman, Judy Maciejowska, and John
Reekie
Dedicated to keeping Twickenham Riverside
Special
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The Land
The Riverside site on which the old open air swimming pool stands
was bought by Twickenham Council in 1924. The purchase was made by
means of a loan from and under the official sanction of the Ministry
of Health, for the express purpose of providing public walks and pleasure
grounds. The land remained a public open space until the open air
pool was opened in 1935. The pool and grounds continued to be enjoyed
by the public until they were closed for "refurbishment"
in the late 1970s. They have remained closed since that date although
the caretaker's house and cafe have been rented to voluntary organisations
since 1982.
Twickenham Riverside Terrace
This scheme, now granted planning permission by the Council, is for
a public park and children's play area, with the present two-storey
pool changing room structure reduced to a single storey building housing
riverside facilities, such as a cafe, public toilets, boat hire, etc.
At first floor level there will be a public terraced area with a balustrade
overlooking the river, with a landscaped open public park behind,
and additional tree planting. The old caretaker's house and original
cafe building will be retained for use by local voluntary organisations.
- This is a low-intensity scheme which will provide
maximum public benefit from the site with minimum expenditure.
- It reflects the wishes of a large body of the public
who voluntarily approached street meetings, viewed the proposals,
and signed to support them.
- This scheme ensures that this beautiful and unique
riverside site does not pass from public to private use. (Such
a change could never be reversed.) And it permits its continued
use by deserving community bodies.
- This scheme complies with the requirements of conservation
bodies, including English Heritage and the Council's own Conservation
Advisory Committee. It also meets regulations governing development
on the Thames Flood area.
Objectives
- The overriding aim is to ensure that this riverside
land, purchased on behalf of and held in trust for the people
of Twickenham by the Council, remains wholly for public use.
- To make certain that the elected administration
of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames honours that trust.
- To safeguard and enhance the special qualities
of the wonderful riverside site, and in particular, to prevent
inappropriate, over-intensive development being carried out.
In fact, it is very hard to believe that the people
of Twickenham would wish to give away, sell, lease away for more
than a century, or dispose of in any other ridiculous way the jewel
at the centre of our town. In other words, the family silver is
not for sale.
The way ahead
- Twickenham Riverside Terrace is a modest scheme,
but money will be required for demolition, the landscaping, and
simple building works. The Council may not be able to fully fund
this project, but there are a number of alternative possibilities
for funding. These are being actively investigated. These funds
will be managed by a Charitable Trust.
- The project is run entirely by volunteers. A lot
of work has been done so far and a great deal more will be needed
to realise the Twickenham Riverside Terrace in its entirety. We
need more volunteers. All sorts of different skills, experience
and knowledge are needed, and all will be welcomed. However, even
if you are not able to volunteer your time, it would be very helpful
to let us know that you support the objectives of the Twickenham
Riverside Terrace Project.
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Press
Release 18 September 2001
Twickenham Riverside Terrace Gardens
Project
The
Twickenham Riverside Terrace Garden project is now progressing to
more detailed drawings, fund raising and consultation with local
societies, amenity groups and residents.
In
brief the project provides a first floor terrace overlooking the
river, and gardens behind. It creates below the terrace a single
storey building for public toilets, river related business use,
an information centre, and cafe/restaurant. The building will have
an arched elevation to the waterfront. The other existing buildings
on the site will be available to accommodate local community groups.
In addition there will be ample room to hold the open air events
which benefit from a riverside setting.
The public benefit and amenity gain to both residents and visitors
to Twickenham will be considerable in terms of open space and unobtrusive
buildings which are in harmony with the unique riverside setting
of this area.
As
the public petition demonstrated there is tremendous public support
for this project.
-
The
way ahead is to ensure that this support is manifest to our
elected representatives on the Council.
-
It
will only be by the support and strength of public opinion that
the Terrace Gardens will be created.
-
Readers
who wish to ensure that the Twickenham riverside is kept for
public use and pleasure for now and for future generations are
urged to help by supporting the project.
For
further information and offers of help or support please contact
our Answerphone on 0208 255 1207, or fax us on
0208 287 4604, or email
us.
See
also:
Twickenham
online "Hot Local Issues" and Riverside
Letters, and the
Twickenham River Centre news pages
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