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Letter from Martin Stearman to the Editor RTT
and Twickenham Online
10 November 2003
Dear Sir
Where is the Council's vision for Twickenham Riverside? Is there
one?
Richmond upon Thames Council, by means of the long drawn out
and faint-hearted attitude to improving the
riverside,
and its
proposed modifications to the UDP and the revised planning brief
for the pool
site, are
seeking
to separate the Riverside site from the surrounding area and in
particular, the King Street properties and improving Twickenham
town centre.
There seems to be a failure on their part to
see that the solutions for the improvement of the Twickenham town
centre
are to be found in having an integrated, overall vision. Bringing
small changes together could create a better environment for all.
The effect of the Council’s approach on the pool site is to force
up the amount of development needed so that it
may
become
viable
in its own right. This approach will mean too many buildings, and
miss the benefit to be had from bringing forward the development
of
adjacent
sites,
which
could
then make a contribution to the Pool site and the town centre.
Clearly the best chance to get a substantive area for public use
on the riverside is to include the wider area within an overall
urban design brief.
If the rear of King Street were to be developed on the basis that
there would be clear views across the pool site to the River, the
value of the new development would be higher, and as a consequence
a contribution to the cost of regenerating the pool site could
be considered.
The Council has a duty to make plans and create positive conditions
for change. It should not wait, cap in hand until someone else
decides to invest in development. It is the Council’s job to direct
redevelopment efforts for the good of the community. If there is
no vision then
blight will be perpetuated.
What we need is a less piecemeal approach to the achievement
of the regeneration of the the town centre and of King Street
in particular.
Shifting the centre of the development focus to the King Street
properties would free up the potential for open space and community
use on the
pool site, and enable the achievement of many of the key criteria
of the Thameside Strategy, and the Twickenham & Queens Road Conservation
Area Study.
These points and others were made to the UDP Inspector recently.
Let us hope that the Secretary of State will remind our Council
of their responsibilities to make plans, and to think beyond how
much
they might get for selling off land that was bought on behalf of,
and has long been used and enjoyed by the public.
Yours faithfully
Martin Stearman
Twickenham
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