Trust observation on planning proposals for Twickenham Riverside

The Twickenham Riverside Trust has submitted the following observation on the planning application published by Richmond Council relating to the redevelopment of Twickenham Riverside.

The Trustees of the Twickenham Riverside Trust wish to record that they have yet to reach a decision on relevant aspects of the Council's proposals for redevelopment of Twickenham Riverside. As soon as that happens, we will communicate that to the Council and the planning department. This observation explains the position facing the Trust and why it is not yet in a position to comment.

The Diamond Jubilee Gardens are public open space and part (approx. 25%) of the proposed development site. Since 2014, the Twickenham Riverside Trust has held a 125-year lease on most of the land that makes up the Gardens.

The Council has laid out an alternative space within the new development, and on the Embankment, for the Trust to occupy throughout a new similar lease.

The Trust is a charity set up in 2012 with the central objects ‘to preserve, protect and improve, for the benefit of the public, the Riverside and its environs at Twickenham’. The trustees are under a duty to be guided both by those and by the purpose for which the lease was granted. Should the Trust determine the offer from the Council is acceptable, its decision would go to the Charity Commission for final approval. It would be required to demonstrate to the Charity Commission that the re-provided Gardens are ‘not less in area’ and ‘equally advantageous’ to the Trust and the public when compared to the public open space of the existing Gardens.

The Trust has been obliged to go through certain formal processes and to seek advice from an independent surveyor as well as legal guidance. Those in turn have required precise details to be received from the Council of its proposal relating to the re-provision. The exact indication of the exchange land that the Council is offering to the Trust was received as late as July. Most recently, it has only become clear on 10 September that the Council intends to pursue a different course of action (alongside its consideration of a Compulsory Purchase Order for the Gardens) in a paper for the Finance, Policy and Resources Committee, which has obliged the Trust to seek yet further advice.

The ongoing delays are regrettable and the Trust is working as quickly as possible to obtain the revised report necessary to inform its decision-making process.