1. Friday, November 20, 2015 rttimes.co.uk Established 1873 55p
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Inside
Richmond Council’s deputy leader
Councillor Geoffrey Samuel has
been accused of “hypocrisy” over a
tweet made about Twickenham
riverside.
Coun Samuel described the Lib-
eral Democrat administration’s
2009 Twickenham riverside propos-
als as a “£3m white elephant” on
the social media website last year.
But, after the Conservatives un-
veiled a Regency-inspired am-
phitheatre and town square, the
leader of opposition has attacked
his comments.
The council has since purchased
the site for £6m and, have commis-
sioned architects Quinlan and
Francis Terry, who designed Rich-
mond riverside, to design the devel-
opment – with 40 homes.
Liberal Democrat leader Council-
lor Gareth Roberts said: “Given
that Geoffrey has never missed an
opportunity to make a cheap re-
mark or snide observation about
our plans for the riverside, it would
be lying to suggest that it isn’t a lit-
tle pleasing to see his own words
come back to bite him on the
backside.
“This tweet lays bare the sheer
hypocrisy of
the Con-
serva-
tives’
posi-
tion
over
the
river-
side.
“They
were vicious
in their attacks on our plans to de-
velop the site using the receipts
from residential development yet
this is precisely what they are now
proposing themselves.”
The tweet, made shortly after the
council’s Gloriana u-turn in
September 2014, said: “2009 Lib-
Dems – £3m Riverside White Ele-
phant + 32 luxury houses. No
consultation. 2014 Gloriana. Con-
sultation. Tory Council listens.”
Coun Roberts has branded the
Conservative administra-
tion as “hypocritical”.
Proposals for the
multi-million
pound Conserva-
tive scheme could
include as many as
40 flats on the river-
side.
But Councillor
Samuel said there is
“no comparison” between
the 2009 plans and the shop-lined
arcade proposals, which would be
completed by spring 2019.
Deputy leader Coun Samuel
added there was “no comparison”
between the two schemes.
He said: “We are consulting,
which is what they always refused
to do – and, as proved with the Glo-
riana – we listen, whereas they did
not.
Continued on page 4
Tom Ambrose
tom.ambrose
@london.newsquest.co.uk
Do you like Twickenham
Riverside proposals?
YES
44 per cent
NO
56 per cent
Snap poll taken of 287 RTT readers on
November 11
‘Sheer hypocrisy’
20152015
riverside
plan – £6m
and 40
homes
20092009
riverside
plan – £3m
and 32
homes
Tories announce bigger plans after ‘white elephant’ tweet
Criticised: Geoffrey Samuels and,
right, an artist’s impression of the
riverside plans