Your questions and answers
Where exactly is the Twickenham Riverside site
The Twickenham Riverside site is located adjacent to the riverside embankment between Water Lane and Wharf Lane and the rear service road to the shops on the south side of King Street. It has a total area of around 0.5 hectares (1.24 acres)
What is it presently used for?
The site has been largely derelict since the closure of the Twickenham Lido swimming pool complex in 1980. Temporary landscaping of the front of the site was undertaken in 2004 together with the provision of a small temporary children’s playground and café on a small part of the site, pending a permanent scheme for the whole site.
What is the Council proposing for the site?
The Council is proposing to bring this key riverside site back into use after almost 30 years of its being derelict. The site is to be used for new open space, a new children’s playground, a River Centre community building and public toilets with the surrounding embankment area also being upgraded. These benefits are funded by new housing, located to the rear and Wharf Lane side of the site, which will also build in security.
Why did you close the Riverside Café down?
There has been a temporary café on the Riverside site since 2004 although the lease to a private operator expired in June this year. Since then, a new café, Café Sunshine, is being run by Power Employment, a Council run service for adults with learning disabilities. This service will continue until construction works commences on the site.
Why are you getting rid of the playground by the river?
We are not. The existing temporary playground will remain until the redevelopment work starts. A new permanent children’s playground will be provided adjacent to the embankment and the café/restaurant as part of the scheme. This will be nautically themed in keeping with the riverside location and the river centre.
Will there be shops on the Riverside site?
There will be no retail outlets on the riverside site. The River Centre will contain a café/restaurant and will attract people to Twickenham where they will find an array of existing shops and businesses to meet their needs.
What is the purpose of the River Centre?
The proposed components of the River Centre are:
Learning
The Centre will provide opportunities for everyone to learn about the river and the environment through hands-on experience. This will include an aquarium, interactive water model and camera obscura.
Recreation and volunteering
The Centre will provide links to the many clubs and organisations that row, paddle or sail on the river. It will be a base for people to explore the river environment and have boat hire.
Relaxing
There will be a café and play area.
Celebrating heritage
Exhibitions will celebrate the boat-building heritage of Twickenham. And in the winter, the Queen’s Shallop – the Jubilant will be moored there.
Why are you going ahead with this development when so many residents are opposed to it?
A small but vocal minority of residents oppose the proposals for the site. The current Council administration made it clear in 2006 that it would bring forward a scheme for the regeneration of this site. The site has now been derelict for 29 years and action to bring it back into appropriate use is long overdue. The Countryside proposal offers significant community benefits including new public open space, a new children’s play area, the River Centre and improvement to the embankment. Collectively these community facilities have a value of over £4m and will be secured at no capital cost to local Council Tax payers.
Why do local papers say that the Council is not listening to residents?
It is a fact of life that the local media often give disproportionate precedence to outspoken individuals or groups because this creates stories for them. The Council’s role is however to represent all the borough’s residents and to make decisions in the best interest of the borough. The Council’s administration is democratically elected every four years and, unlike vocal interest groups, is accountable through the ballot box for the decisions it makes.
Why doesn’t the Council develop the site itself?
The Council does not itself have the funding to bring this important riverside site back into beneficial use. The greater part of the site will be used for open space, a children’s playground and to provide the River Centre community building. These community facilities and improvement to the adjacent embankment area have a value of £4m and will be funded from the development of the rear and side of the site for private housing.
The question "Should public land be sold to a property development company?" has been asked in a petition against this site, what’s your response to this?
The question asked by opponents of the council misrepresented what the council is proposing for the site. Various options for the future of this site were considered as part of the Twickenham Challenge in 2006. This concluded that a range of community facilities ought to be sought on the site including public open space, a children’s playground and a River Centre. It was accepted that funding for community facilities should be sought from enabling housing development on part of the site but that this should be kept to the minimum necessary to secure the community facilities. The Council has followed a lengthy and transparent process to implement the agreed outcome from the Twickenham Challenge and believes that the resultant Countryside scheme will transform this key site which has been derelict for almost 30 years.
Why is the area not being made open space?
The Council does not have the funding to demolish the remaining existing structures on the site and to lay it all out as public open space. In any event this would not meet the Council’s vision for the site with a new landmark River Centre and opportunity to contribute to the regeneration of the riverside and town centre. The planning status of the site (see the T1 site brief in the Council’s adopted UDP) supports the principle of a mixed used scheme including an element of residential development.