Save Orleans Riverside from Development

The proposed site is completely unsuitable:
- it's in conservation area for a good reason. So let's keep the area protected as it should be.
- the access us unsuitable. Has the councilor ever tried walking down the road which has no pavement due to the parking arrangements that are in place. Any increase in traffic would be a danger to pedestrians, in particular children who access the playground down this road.

I was brought up within the Borough of Richmond Upon Thames. The stretch of the Thames between Twickenham and Richmond is absolutely stunning. Please don't ruin it by tearing it up and destroying it's natural beauty.

This is a stupid idea and I cannot understand why anyone in their right mind would give it a moment's house room.

The proposed site is completely inappropriate.

Its worse than a stupid idea-Lord True has lined up the site, the developer the huge boat-and then we find out.It is very dishonestly presented as a restoration project to allay suspicion. Reading that, you might think some nice vanished piece of Orleans House is being fixed up. No. The original boat house was big enough for a small rowing skiff. This is the size of a block of 24 flats and requires a deep chanel, lock gates etc etc. The size of this build on our public land, the last bit of unspoilt riverside-is appalling.
It was very clear that the sort of consultation preferred is one in which we are all drawn into little quibbles about details of the edifice under the tacit assumption that this is a done deal. Parking? Traffic? Loss of a meadow protected in law for the residents to enjoy? Not considerations.
One million of our money, which could go on so many universally local services and causes all terribly in need to be thrown into selling this , sorry, "investigating the possibilities".
Does anybody really believe that Lord True for a second is seriously thinking of any other sites?

The council have spent thousands on the PR and advertising of this already. They have spent our money on the glossy leaflets and their delivery.They are going to throw all the spin they can on this one. The local services such as libraries are required-that's, required-to display what amounts to blatant advertising . Everybody please help Friends Of Orleans Riverside to spread the word!

My brother lives in ham, I don't see my niece and nephew enough but when we do we have a little tradition of going to the park. I am sure there are plenty of places the bloody queen can keep her boat without taking this facility away from hard working people.

There must be a suitable, existing place to house the Gloriana without permanently destroying a unique, unspoilt area of natural beauty. This is utter madness and we must not allow it to happen.

There is an important aim to preserve the original peaceful area as it stands now.

Damn fool notion.

We lived in Twickenham for 30 years and still have great connection with the area. My children grew up in in this park. We spent Sunday mornings reading the papers, watching our children play. We spent Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursday and Fridays walking home from St Mary's Junior school via the park and along the river into Twickenham chatting and socialising with folk along the way. Then on Saturdays our friends would come to visit from away and we'd all walk down to the park and, with envy, our friends would tell us how lucky we were to have this beautiful park in this stunning setting! There is nowhere else like it...anywhere.

No thanks

No. bad idea to do this

Doesn't seem a suitable location due to issues of access via Orleans Road which is not wide enough for two cars to pass and has no pavement at key points. This presents a very real danger to visiting public and residents alike. Of course traffic flow will increase, this is a great boat and worth a trip to visit and many will come by car only to be stuck on Orleans Road unable to pass traffic traveling in the opposite direction. Local stations are too far away to service the site suitably well. It would be better sited on Eel pie island in a custom made boat shed or elsewhere - preferably within the borough if possible and with parking provision and proximity to public transport. The concept of housing Gloriana in Twickenham (or within the LBRuT) is one thing to debate and possibly a good idea. This site should not be considered as it is wholly inappropriate, why so much time and resource has been dedicated to this is beyond reason and should be flagged up with the relevant body. Has anyone been appointed to consider sites in an open manner with public engagement? Why was the process leading to selection of this site undertaken behind closed doors from May 2013 only to suddenly be made public over a year later? The approach has caused a great (and reasonable) degree of resentment locally, particularly with regard to such large sums being set aside to investigate what is hardly a necessary public service in a time of cuts to crucial services for many within the borough.

This area of the riverside is delightful and would be ruined by building a large boathouse for a phoney piece of "heritage". The real heritage is the ancient river bank - it's destruction is pointless vandalism.

Disgraceful attempt to force through a vanity project at the public expense, if you ask me - and in a time of cutbacks, too, which makes it worse !

A vainglorious attempt to house a rich man's folly at tax payers' expense whilst destroying one of the few unspoilt stretches of the River Thames. We don't want it. We don't want to look at it. And we don't want to pay for it.

The boathouse is a vanity project if ever there was one - of which the consequences could be terrible. Suddenly, this wonderful stretch of green open space has become 'building land' - and the precedent is there in the shape of this horribly crass proposal. We as residents must fight this one off. Now!

I used to live in this area and the reason I loved it was it was such a tranquil area. In addition to spoiling this tranquility with a 'replica' there is insufficient infrastructure in terms of parking and public transport. Why not site in an area which could benefit from additional visitors such as Hampton Court or Henley rowing museum.

Seriously? Cutting trees that are hundreds of years old to make a shed? For something that was built 3 years ago? You're having a giraffe right?

I might not be local to the area, but the destruction of natural beauty needs to be stopped - I would like to think that, should Leeds City Council decide to do something so commercially selfish and greedy, that people all over the UK would take a stand and object too.

Appalling idea. We so need to preserve and conserve the natural beauty of our river.

I have lived in Twickenham for nearly 30 years and have always liked to believe that the Orleans Riverside's conservation area status has been well established for very good reasons and would be respected for generations to come. This development proposal not only goes right against conservation principles (shame on those supporting the proposed development, they are both ignorant and arrogant). It is also ill thought out in terms of impact on existing amenities, which are enjoyed not only by 'locals' but also by many visitors. This proposed development should go no further than the worthless piece of paper it is written on!

It would be a bad move in many ways - for the natural environment, the intrusiveness of a dry dock and a canal in a quiet, much-loved woody area,and a serious waste of money needed for other ends in this borough. And no consultation !

Sally Kermond's brilliant letter in this week's "Richmond & Twickenham Times" (18 July 2014, p.25) leaves little to be said. The proposal is a paradigm case of "the price of everything and the value of nothing" - this tranquil stretch of riverside may not bring in much cash, but its wider value is immense. May the Philistines be vanquished.