- Tangley Park Family Centre open to all
- Offer day – secondary school places announced tomorrow
- Colourful Holi Festival set to brighten up Twickenham
- Lighting up Whitton
- Joint library project awarded £20,000 by the Arts Council
- Enjoy your very own royal wedding
- Youth come together on crime
- Champion runners sprint to collect awards
- Youth Offending Team praised by inspectors
- Women urged to cycle their hearts out
- Wrapping Richmond up warm
- Council prepares to freeze parking charges
- Residents set to nominate footpaths and roads for repair
- Purrrffect addition to borough’s day centre
- Bringing health and wellbeing into the heart of Twickenham
- Live your life in our parks
- An a-peeling way to support libraries
- Antisocial behaviour tackled in Ham
- Un-Lucky shop prosecuted for teen booze sales
- An afternoon with a Masterchef at Twickenham Library
- Last chance to apply for the ARThouse festival
- Richmond’s Project Volunteer
- Works complete at Teddington Pools and Fitness Centre
- Developing mental health care in Richmond
- Recycling rounds change to save over £250,000
- Singing from the valleys…in Richmond
- High street programme targets Twickenham
- Collis tops football festival
- Royal Visit To Mark Jubilee
- Activities for children over the spring half term
- Successful energy saving project expands
- Gritting operation keeps streets open
- Benefits cheat jailed
- Badge reward for keeping safe every day
- Working together to fight homelessness
- Council launches consultation to tackle homelessness
- Borough paves the way for national sports launch
- BID-ding to improve business in Twickenham
- Testing on arrest means business
- Clearance work to start on Riverside pool site
- Be prepared for 2012 Olympics
- Council Tax and budget briefing
- Affordable housing boom in Richmond upon Thames
- Visit Richmond Landscapes Past and Present
- Chance for local talent to shine at Youth Open Mic Night in Hampton
- Remember to register to vote
Release Date: 03/02/2012
Clearance work to start on Riverside pool site
Work to create an open public space and complete the first new gardens in Twickenham for a generation started this week, as the Council lives up to its promise to open Twickenham Riverside for all people to enjoy and make 2012 a year for celebration.
Clearance of the long-derelict site of the former open-air swimming pool will be carried out by contractors appointed by the Council between February and June. During the work, the site will be closed for safety reasons and to allow contractors access and to deliver the new gardens within the short period of time.
When the work is finished there will be a grassed area immediately behind Café Sunshine and a park space in front of the old diving board, which will be kept as a memorial to the long struggle to re-open the site. A section closest to the old changing rooms would be paved to become a public square which will provide a platform for a number of activities, including musical and theatrical performance. The Council hopes this would tie in to plans for the section of the site which currently has buildings on, which will be brought forward after further consultation during the spring.
Lord True, Leader of Richmond Council, said: “This administration promised to do everything necessary to open the Riverside for the people of Twickenham. We are now delivering on that promise and our contractors are taking away the first piles of weeds and rubble this week. It is brilliant to see that after so many years of wrangling, bureaucracy and political footballing, action is finally being taken. This should be credited to the local people who have fought for this for many years. This site will be a sign of what can be done by listening and working with residents.
“The design came about after we listened to the community. Indeed it is based on a planning application from the Twickenham Riverside Terrace Group which we have taken forward. The scheme will lead to another outstanding open space in our borough. We hope to open it for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, so the area can live up to its name of Jubilee Gardens.
“There is 30 years’ worth of debris and vegetation to come out of the site, so I hope people will bear with us for three months while the work takes place. After that, the land will be free for local people to use and enjoy whenever they wish.”
The plans are based on community-led proposals and were brought together following consultation through the Barefoot consultation, the Twickenham Conference and the All in One process.
Shoppers in King Street and Heath Road will find it easy to visit the finished gardens as the entrance will be improved. Pride of place will go to a new feature commemorating the jubilee.
The play area will be retained and bounded by a low hedge. New railings and trees will be installed around the edges of the site for safety and to create ambience.
View an artist’s impression and plan showing how the Council would like to open up the site.
View the full press release
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