Plans for Twickenham Riverside

8.32.43pm GMT Fri 22nd Feb 2008

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• CLLR Michael Wilson writes: Monday's meeting hosted by the Twickenham Society gave residents an opportunity to discuss the Exhibition and emerging proposals for a Development Brief for this important site before a report is made to Cabinet. The wrecking tactics of some of the people who attended did not detract from the excellent presentations of Jack Betteridge, Angela Kidner and Derek Plummer, and I'm sure that many people present, who want to see an end to 28 years of a substantially derelict site, which is both an eye-sore and terrible waste, will have been impressed and heartened by the vision and the potential presented.

The T1 site brief does not include King Street - T1 is bounded by Wharf Lane, the service road, the private car park, and Water Lane. But T1 is the UDP site brief, adopted by the Council following extensive public consultation and supported by both the Liberal Democrats and the Tories. T1 designates the site for a mixed use development for the "enhancement of the riverside; leisure use including public open space; housing, cafes and possible retail; and toilets available for public use".

The estimated cost of providing the shell of the River Centre is £2.5 mn.; the infrastructure and environmental improvements to the site, including the children's playground (which will be located on the site and in sight of the River Centre cafe, as requested by parents who use it), are estimated at £1.5 mn.; and therefore, the Community value required from the proposed enabling residential development is £4 mn..

In addition, the Council agrees with local residents that the Embankment waterfront should be planned for as a whole, from Water Lane to Champions Wharf. This project is estimated to cost about £1 mn., which it is proposed will be financed by £500,000 from the Riverside development (which is a part of the £1.5 mn. mentioned above); £200,000 from the funds allocated under Arcadia in the City for the stretch from the Eel Pie Island footbridge to The Barmy Arms; and £300,000 which the Council will commit from its capital programme for environmental improvements.

It is important that the amount of enabling residential development is kept to an absolute minimum in scale and footprint, in order to be sympathetic to the surrounding area and to provide as much public open space as possible. In order to achieve this and deliver the £4 mn. community benefit, the Council has already committed to delivering additional affordable housing on other residential sites in the ownership of the Council. Nine such sites have already been identified and in total these will deliver up to 35 much needed family homes for rent in Twickenham, Teddington and other prime residential areas. Further sites are in the pipeline.

But what is built on the Riverside site must deliver the maximum financial gain for the minimum scale/footprint - and that means homes at the more expensive end of the market. The land in the Council's ownership is about 1.24 acres; the footprint of the proposed enabling residential development (including the attached garden space) is approaching 0.25 acres (i.e. about 20%); and the River Centre footprint is no more than 20% and possibly markedly less than this subject to how the building will precisely be arranged once the detail is worked up.

Angela Kidner [Environmental Trust]

During the extensive public consultation for the Twickenham Challenge competition, and during the current 6 month consultation on the Development Brief, and in the responses which Angela Kidner reported as having been received during the Exhibition last week, the passionate support of children, families, environment groups and local residents has been clear and overwhelming. I have no doubt that the Environment Trust and its supporters will make a success of it, and I have no doubt that building on the funding already received will become easier and easier for the Trust as time goes on. But in any event, the River Centre building will be flexible, modern and eco-friendly, and therefore will be adaptable to a range of community uses as required.