Letter from Twickenham Residents Action Group - 25 April 2012
editor’s note: we received this email and are posting as is, as we cannot prove the allegations in the letter, but believe it deserves publishing.
Dear Editor,
Lord True (Leader of Richmond Council) and the Planning Office have covered-up a highly critical report, produced by their own advisory group, concerning the residential development over Twickenham Railway Station.
The detailed and extensive report (+80 pages) was prepared by the Twickenham Advisory Panel (TAP). Lord True formed TAP to act as an ‘honest broker’ – providing a forum for open dialogue between the community and the developer (Solum). The report was prepared to follow up the questions raised during the public consultation event held at Richmond College in July 2011.
I would like the help of your readers to obtain answers to some very basic questions from:
- Lord True – Leader of Richmond Council – Cllr.LordTrue@richmond.gov.uk
- Paul Chadwick – Council Director of Environment – P.Chadwick@richmond.gov.uk
Questions:
- When was the LBRuT first in possession of the TAP report?
- Why did Lord True and the Planning Office decide not to include the TAP report with the documents provided for the Planning Meeting held on 19th December 2011?
- Why was the TAP spokesman barred from the Planning Meeting even though he had registered to speak?
- When will TAP’s recommendations be made public?
I am sure your readers will have their own questions.
We are only likely to get a response with force of numbers.
The only way we can challenge the impact of the cover up is via a judicial review. TRAG has raised the funding for the first stage in just two weeks (+£10,000 to obtain an opinion on the case for a judicial review). We would welcome further contributions to our legal fund:
(Paypal link is at the bottom of page for credit/debit card contributions)
I will send you a link to a downloadable version of the complete document (including recommendations) as soon as it is made available.
Best regards,
Ian Blackman
Twickenham Residents Action Group (TRAG) – not TAP
Comments
Cllr Geoff Acton has told me: 'I also received this and am forwarding to requested recipients for an answer.'
It is a pity that TAP didn't publish their report themselves instead of sending it to Lord True to be glanced at, filed and forgotten. I did urge a member of TAP to do this but to no avail.
Chris Squire on 2012-04-26 09:53:14 +0000A response has been received from Paul Chadwick
"You will receive a full response, covering the reality of what has happened, sometime early next week."
I'm not sure why it takes almost two weeks to create reality.
A note this week on the Council website concerning the TAP recommendation states:
"Richmond Council has asked the Chairman of the Panel if there are recommendations which they would like to include and they are currently drafting them. As soon as they have been submitted, they will be uploaded to this website.(updated 25 April 2012)."
www.richmond.gov.uk/what_have_they_done
So, now the recommendations are also about to become a reality.
Best regards,
Ian
Ian Blackman on 2012-04-28 11:01:40 +0000I believe that Lord True deliberately withheld the TAP report. Why? Well, he is the kind of man to have made sure that he knew, at least, the gist of the recommendations before the planning meeting in December, because he prides himself on being in control. Nothing wrong with that - he is leader of the council - but, in order to have been transparent and fair to everyone (in other words 'an honest broker') he should then have made this very important report available to all parties or postponed the planning meeting until it was in the public domaine. The problem that he had, in my opinion, was that he had already decided to approve the application and this report was going make life difficult for him and the councillors on the planning committee who had been told to toe the line, even if it meant going against their conscience and beliefs. Why do I think this? At that fateful planning meeting not one conservative councillor asked a probing question of Solum even though many issues were raised by members of the public and experts in the field of architecture and engineering. If it had not been such an important decision, it would have been laughable. So, back to the sidelined TAP report.If I were on this panel I would hand in my resignation. I would not waste my time trying to give honest and clear advice that will only be taken seriously if it is in line with the thinking of our leader! It seems that we have a council that not only ignores its residents but also its especially chosen advisory panels!
L. Heritage on 2012-04-28 19:55:08 +0000The TAP report was printed at the Council offices and sent to Lord True on 7th December. A Council Officer attended the TAP meetings so the report was not a surprise. Documents for the Planning meeting were accepted up to midday on the 19th December. That left Lord True 11 days to submit the report.
Cover up?
Ian Blackman on 2012-04-29 18:09:43 +0000Add a comment