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Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats:Covering the constituencies of Twickenham and Richmond Park |
Twickenham Station development: ‘scandalous lost opportunity’
December 23, 2011 2:48 PM
• [Dec 22]: THE decision by Conservative councillors to grant permission for 115 luxury private flats and houses at Twickenham Station without a single affordable home has been described as "a scandalous lost opportunity" by the Liberal Democrat Leader of the Opposition.
Cllr Stephen Knight, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, said:"Many people will welcome the fact that we are going to get a much improved station at Twickenham, but the approved scheme fails to meet the council's own planning policies by providing no affordable homes and by being higher than the maximum height limit set for this area.
"We have a dire need for more affordable homes to tackle a growing local problem of overcrowding and homelessness. It is therefore a scandalous lost opportunity that this scheme includes not a single affordable home. Given how few significant development sites there are in the borough and the fact that the station is publicly owned land, all the new homes should have been affordable housing, either social rented or shared ownership. Instead the approved scheme has 115 luxury private apartments and houses with no affordable homes at all.
"The Conservatives made great play of their new planning policies against tall buildings and only last month Cllr Virginia Morris, Cabinet Member for Environment, wrote in her foreword to the Development Management Plan that 'height limits are firmly set'. These so-called 'height limits' have immediately been broken.
"There was an alternative, which I set out some months ago, which would have seen the Council using its housing capital budget to subsidise a 100% affordable homes scheme of appropriate height. Sadly the Conservative administration refused to even consider this proposal."
• Twickenham Residents' Action Group's petition asking London Mayor Boris Johnson to stop the scheme
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