Should Dawnay Day be allowed to dawn?

Democracy can only succeed if both sides of the debate are advanced, so I am writing to support the Dawnay Day proposals, which I believe will bring benefits to the residents on Twickenham.

In the Richmond & Twickenham Times (January 25th) you published a photograph, taken in 1977, of local residents signing a petition requesting the then Conservative local council to keep open Twickenham swimming baths.

I was pictured in the photograph, and along with many residents who signed the petition, was ignored when the Conservative council closed the pool.

A few years later, the only remaining cinema in Twickenham, The Odeon, was also closed, and Twickenham residents deprived of another facility.

I believe that the majority of Twickenham residents want to have these facilities restored to them, and this is why the Dawnay Day proposals need to be supported.

The proposals offer swimming facilities to the public every week day and at weekends, and not just, for a few hours on a few days'' as Trevor Baylis wrote last week.

The plan offers a modern, three-screen cinema. In towns where they operate, multi-screen cinemas are popular with the residents of those towns, as well as being commercially successful. We only have to look at the multi-screen cinema in Richmond and Kingston to see their popularity and success.

The Dawnay Day proposals offers us riverside restaurants, cafes and shops. This is surely an attractive proposition.

The Dawnay Day proposals will be financed with new and needed housing units situated above the leisure facilities.

I would appeal to the silent majority of Twickenham residents to support the Dawnay Day proposals which will return the facilities that they have wanted to be returned to them for the past 25 years.

- Steven Topol, Chairman, S Twickenham Liberal Democrats, Cross Deep, Twickenham.

Sir,-As a resident citizen of the Borough of Richmond upon Thames since childhood, I am becoming more and more concerned about the way our local council behaves, and has behaved, over numerous things in the past.

We now have the prospect of the Twickenham pool site being treated as another rink fiasco.

We must not be divided by the river or locality. Large tracts of lands, open spaces, playing fields, council yards etc, are being gradually used up by developers.

It is my opinion that Richmond upon Thames Council have not been properly open or transparent regarding the pool site.

Worth over £12 million, this site must not be allowed to be handed over for a sweetener of less than one million.

The Dawnay Day scheme is far too lopsided in the developer's favour. Personally I would like to see this planning application called in at ministerial level. Please don't allow the land bankers and grubstakers to swallow our riverside and open spaces without protest. Have we been properly consulted?

Are the council behaving in a proper and ethical manner? Have they been really open with us?

Please open this can of worms before it is too late!

-Mr R F Sturch, Sheen Road, Richmond.

Sir,-May I be permitted one last appeal to your readers?

On February 28th, the Dawnay Day scheme for the development of Twickenham river front goes before the Planning Sub-committee for approval.

If it succeeds, it will inflict a wound on the face of the community that will disfigure what remains of our beautiful landscape for ever.

Make no mistake, the development of this monstrous carbuncle and the scale of the betrayal will be biblical, if it goes ahead.

It is the brainchild of two or three visionless individuals in the council offices and every single independent, qualified authority, bar one, is appalled at the hideous over-development proposed.

The tactics employed to force the scheme through are artful and mean and the whole idea is based on a silly misconception that Twicken-ham town centre can be revived by dragging it down to the river.

Imagine yourself a retailer, or even a restaurateur, on a cold, wet, winter's day, on a windswept podium overlooking the river, or in a dark passageway among towering buildings. What are the chances of survival - let alone revival? Ask the traders of Church Street.

Beautify the river and develop the town. That's the solution. But, that requires understanding, commitment and courage, evidently beyond the petty fixers in our town hall.

Make an effort, please, and get down to York House at 6pm on February 28th and join the demonstration to save what has rightly been described as the finest Arcadian landscape in Northern Europe.

-Robin Walters, Wellesley Road, Twickenham

Sir,-The chairman of the Development Control Committee has stated, in your columns, that he will not make up his own mind until the application has been considered by his committee.

But the scheme has already received so much political support that his independence may be seriously compromised.

A council officer has been quoted as saying that if the council want the scheme it is the duty of the executive to approve it. If this is true then what kind of report and recommendation to the committee can be expected from planning officers? And if they recommend refusal will this be upheld?

If, ignoring the strong doubts already expressed, the council are minded to give approval, we should ask for this approval to be suspended and seek a clear reaffirmation of the design criteria established in 1991 through the mechanism of a public inquiry.

-Anthony Beckles Willson, Popes Grove, Twickenham.

Sir,-This Twickenham resident favours the Dawnay Day scheme as the best option for the Twickenham riverside site.

My family and I look forward to having access to a local swimming pool and cinema in addition to the combination of restaurants, shops and public spaces offered by the scheme.

I also look forward to the pedestrianisation of the road between the development and the river.

Perhaps most importantly the scheme will provide some much needed regeneration to Twickenham town centre as a whole.

In contrast, I do not believe that the alternative river terrace development is even viable. Even if it was, the open space created would be prone to vandalism and after dark would become a haven for drunks and yobs.

I do not believe that this small though vocal group of individuals is at all representative of the silent majority of Twickenham residents who favour the Dawnay Day scheme as the best option for Twickenham.

I call on our councillors to have the courage to put an end to the stalemate of the last 20 years by approving the Dawnay Day plan at the Development Control Committee meeting.

-Bill Henry, Gould Road, Twickenham.