The GOOD We now have more than 2,000 Supporters. Yay. Thank you all so much for your support and your wonderful comments. We love reading your comments and would love to read more. So, if you haven’t commented already, please do. If you’d like to add a second or more comments, again please do. We’ve got some really amazing supporters: Our Twickenham MP, Sir Vince Cable said this about our proposal: ‘As a long standing resident and campaigner – I am one of the relatively few Twickenham residents to have swum in the open air pool over 40 years ago – I began to despair of ever finding a proposal which would command support of the council and a majority of residents.’ ‘I share the sense of annoyance and frustration of residents that their change.org petition has been disqualified by the Council on incomprehensible, bureaucratic grounds. I raised the issue with the new Council Leader but nothing has changed. I also share the indignation of many residents that the present council, having campaigned eight years ago on a pledge to stop ‘luxury’ housing and overdevelopment on the site is proposing just that (and little else).’ ‘I am very attracted to your Town Square and Riverside Park proposal, which provide sufficient ‘town square’ space to permit multiple activities and is compatible with the modern lido concept which I also like.’ Lynn Faulds Wood commented: ‘I'm signing because I've lived in Twickenham for 23 years & cannot understand why the car is king on a potentially beautiful public amenity like the riverside.’ Keeley Hawes (Twickenham Riverside resident) has signed our petition and also like our tweet saying: ‘Just look at how much amazing riverfront space is wasted on the Embankment road and car park This could and should be a car-free Riverside Park #ParkNotCarPark’ The BAD The council’s Autumn consultation results were published on Friday and the results are seriously bad. Bad in that the 975 respondents were extremely negative about nearly every aspect of the proposals. On the Two Key Consultation Topics: • the Site Plan scored only 3.6/10 (where 0 was strongly disagree and 10 was strongly agree). • the Building Appearance, from all 4 sides, also scored an average of just 3.6/10 That’s a 36% satisfaction rating, which in any exam, poll or referendum would be a FAIL. It’s very clear that residents DISAGREE with the key aspects of the Council’s proposal. Yes, a riverside square and linkage to Diamond Jubilee Gardens were more popular, but these are fundamental to any proposal. Unfortunately, residents weren’t asked about the size and usefulness of the tiny pocket square for event such as farmers markets and a seasonal ice rink or about the quality of DJGardens. Ho hum. Further Comments 826 Further Comments were received to the final free text question. The three main themes identified were: 1. ‘Parking – Get Cars Off the Embankment’. This was commented on by a whopping 46% of respondents. Yay. 2. ‘Provide Underground Parking’ received a sizeable 20% response rate 3. ‘Do Not Like Design’ also received a 20% response rates. Only a handful of the 826 comments are quoted from in the consultation report, most probably because ALL the themes identified were negative. Press Release In the press release accompanying the consultation results Pamela Fleming stated: “I know that there is a recent organised campaign to remove parking from the Embankment. We can’t consider this as an isolated project. The Embankment is first and foremost a road. It is one that is vital to the traffic flow in the town centre and access to Eel Pie Island for residents and businesses.” You cannot be serious Pamela! The Council have refused to release details (requested by FOI) of the three parking and traffic studies carried out in 2015 & 2016. Their reason is that they are STILL in draft form! Anyone smell a rat? In the Summer Consultation which attracted 457 responses, 66% of residents Disagreed (52% Strongly) with the Council’s parking proposals. As you know, we have more than 2,000 supporters who ALL want to Remove the Riverside Parking and Road to create a Riverside Park and large Town Square with Underground Parking. This is considerably more people than the combined number who responded to the Council’s last two consultations. And 100% of you support our proposal, whereas the majority of Council’s consultees opposed their proposals. The UGLY You would’ve thought that after such negative feedback from residents the Council would take time to reconsider what it’s doing, and to consider a more popular proposal (ie ours). But, NO. On Monday they submitted a planning application for exactly the same proposal, dressed with a little lipstick (some detailing around windows, a few cm skimmed off here and there, a tweak to some balconies, and removal of the micro-fountains for cost reasons). As they say ‘you can dress a pig in lipstick, but it’s still a pig!’ Our view is very simple: Pamela Fleming and the Council’s decision to force their hugely unpopular and massively flawed scheme through planning is a DISGRACE. When is this super-stubborn South Richmond councillor and the Tory Council going to start listening to local residents and taxpayers? The Council have already wasted £1.5million on the consultations and planning application, submitted yesterday. How much more are they going to waste (another £770k has been signed off so far) before their proposal is kicked into the long grass alongside the Gloriana Boatshed, that Cllr Fleming was so keen on? WORRY NOT The fight has only just begun. Very soon we will be releasing some exciting plans to STOP the Council’s planning application, and we really look forward to having your support in doing that. When we have succeeded in kicking the Council’s proposal into the long grass alongside the Gloriana boatshed (another Fleming project), our Riverside Park and large Town Square with underground parking will prevail.