Last chance saloon for Twickenham station campaigners

Richmond Council argued its case for why its officers directed members to dismiss the Twickenham Advisory Panel (Tap) report, which criticised the plan.

Tap reported to leader of the council Lord True on what local people wanted for the future regeneration of Twickenham, but objectors claimed the report was dismissed without due consideration.

The long-running issue of the station plans, from Solum Regeneration, was deliberated over in the Court of Appeal, at the Royal Courts of Justice today, examining whether the Tap report was given enough weight.

The case was brought by John Watson, from Twickenham Residents’ Action Group - a campaign group that has fought against the current station proposals for more than three years.

Douglas Edwards QC, on behalf of Mr Watson, told Lord Justice Maurice Kay, Lord Justice Richards and Lord Justice Pitchford: “Straight forwardly [the Tap report] was not considered material and therefore officers took it out of the equation.

“This is officers, officers, and the decision is for members to take, not officers.”

He read out a number of email exchanges in which senior officers were made aware of the report and an officer clearly encouraged Tap members to submit the report.

He also provided evidence from a Freedom of Information request that Tap chairman Paul Leonard was told by the council, ahead of a planning meeting on December 19, that if he spoke against the application he would jeopardise his role in the panel.

Rupert Warren, on behalf of the council, said: “In substance the main points derived by Tap in their report were all dealt with in the officers’ report and were therefore all considered by members.

“There’s no real possibility that [consideration of the Tap report] could have led to any other decision, or tipped the balance in any other way.”

The decision is expected to take up to three weeks.

For the full story, see this week’s Richmond and Twickenham Times.