Lourie slams "referendum" (Twickenham & Richmond Liberal Democrats)

Lourie slams "referendum"

June 11, 2009 10:52 AM

riverside scheme • COUNCIL Leader, Serge Lourie, has slammed the so called referendum on the Twickenham Riverside Regeneration scheme as grossly misleading. The wording of the referendum, which asks "Should public land on Twickenham Riverside be sold to a property development company?", is designed to get the answer that the objectors want.

Cllr Lourie has also written to Electoral Reform Services, the organisation carrying out the referendum, lodging a formal complaint (attached) about the wording and about the content of the letter from the objectors accompanying the "voting paper". Speaking at a meeting at York House, Cllr Lourie said:

"This so called referendum is would have disgraced even Charles De Gaulle, who made asking biased questions an art form. For a referendum to be valid, it needs to be balanced and give all the facts fairly. This referendum is a disgrace and will not have any impact on the Council's decision making as the result will not be worth the paper it is written on.

The Council is involved in a process started by the Conservative administration five years ago when all voluntary organisations in the borough were asked to come up with well thought out plans for the use of this important site, which has been vacant for 28 years. After considerable work, the Council selected the most appropriate scheme which was for the River Centre.

The Council has now selected Countryside Properties' scheme which will provide a public benefit worth over £4m consisting of the river centre, improvements to the embankment, extensive open space, a café and playground. It will be funded by the construction of 32 properties away from the river which will blend in well with the surrounding houses. It will also provide a stimulus to the economic viability of Twickenham and for this reason has been supported by the Twickenham Town Centre Management Committee.

As a long standing member of the Electoral Reform Society, I have lodged a formal complaint about the way the referendum is being run."

Serge Lourie's letter to Electoral Reform Services: "I would like to lodge a formal complaint about the involvement of Electoral Reform Services Limited in the referendum being conducted on Twickenham Riverside. My grounds for complaint are:

• The question being asked (Should public land on Twickenham Riverside be sold to a property development company?) is completely loaded and encourages people who do not know about the subject to vote "no"

• The question should have referred in some way to the fact that the sale of the land on a long lease is intended to finance over £4m of public benefit in the form of a River Centre; extensive landscaped open space, a café, significant improvements to the embankment and a children's playground.

• The ballot paper and the prepaid envelope give the impression that ERS has validated the process when in fact you said to me on the telephone that this is not the case. You said that you only distribute the ballot papers, receive them and then count the votes.

• The accompanying document from the 6 groups, who are presumably your clients, does not give a fair representation of what is being proposed by the Council."

'Referendum n. 1. The practice or principle (in early use chiefly associated with the Swiss constitution) of submitting a question at issue to the whole body of voters.

1945 C. ATTLEE in Ibid. 4/2, I could not consent to the introduction into our national life of a device so alien to all our traditions as the referendum, which has only too often been the instrument of Nazism and Fascism. Hitler's practices in the field of referenda and plebiscites can hardly have endeared these expedients to the British heart.' [OED]

Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats: