Please donate now to help pay £2500 + VAT for an opinion from Jenny Wigley QC and - as appropriate - a letter from Leigh Day to Kingston Council telling laying out the reasons why they must not pursue their plans for a new leisure centre

We need to raise the funds quickly if we are to be sure that we can send a legal letter to the council before they issue a Decision Notice on the planning application - which - if it reaffirms approval of the application made by the Planning Committee in May 2022 - would mean the only route to stopping any decision to approve the application for a new leisure centre would be via judicial review. We need to avoid this avenue of challenge if at all possible

But the plans do not stand up to scrutiny, are unaffordable to a council that is running out of money, and do not offer value for money for residents

Even worse, the plans are based on a marketing survey in which over 7000 people responded to leading and closed questions without being told the whole story:

For example,

We were asked if we would like 5-a-side football pitches on the roof, but we were not told that such pitches would not meet FA standards and would therefore generate limited outcomes or that their provision would mean that the facility will not meet required environmental and energy standards for new developments;

We were asked if we would like a splash pool for our kids, but we were not told that such a pool would be teeny and would be completely separate from the other pools in the centre, making it impossible for anyone with children of different ages to use;

We were told that the new centre would increase biodiversity on the site but we were not told that there would be a loss of over 1000 square metres of protected open space, in direct and unequivocal contravention of London Plan policy;

We were not told that an unspecified number of coaches and other vehicles will be accessing the site and turning around across a pedestrianised area between the playground and the leisure centre, posing a threat to our and our children's safety

I have written to the council laying out a these and a number of other reasons why the Planning Committee's sign-off of plans for a new leisure centre was unsound and requesting that the council halts immediately the demolition of The Kingfisher and considers refurbishing the centre, mending the roof and reopening it to the public as soon as possible

The approved leisure centre does not represent sustainable development

It is unaffordable, and puts our money at risk for a centre that I believe does not appear to meet policy or legal requirements 

I will publish a summary of my letter to the Council with my next update

Kingston Council has not been able to confirm that I will receive a reply to my letter before any formal decision on the planning application for the new leisure centre has been made and it is therefore with regret that we need to consider if there are grounds for sending the council a legal letter in order to ask them to address our legitimate concerns

Any decision by the Planning Committee to support plans for a new leisure centre also should have taken in to account the financial consequences for the public purse of the proposed investment, which it did not

This is unbelievable as we enter a period of hyper-inflation and increasing interest rates as well as massive supply side issues and worker shortages

Please read my latest blog post which explains why I believe that any decision to approve a new leisure centre would be financially irresponsible and unsound 

I have re-opened the fundraiser now

Please donate now whatever you can afford