Growing Concern Over Crane Valley Development Plans

1.01.40pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 30th Dec 2004

Residents in Twickenham opposed to massive house building projects in the Crane Valley area will attend a protest meeting at All Hallows Church Hall on 5th January in advance of the council's cabinet meeting on 20th January.

MP Vincent Cable, who strongly supports the objections of the Heatham Residents' Association and the environment group FORCE said that "since the council appears to share residents' concerns, it must vote down aggressive development proposals which create large numbers of new houses encroaching on open land and generating substantial additional traffic on local roads".

"There are particular worries about the massive expansion envisaged on the Tertiary College site. The College wants to raise capital for developing its buildings by selling off a slice of land for housing. No doubt the College could do with some new buildings but this cannot be achieved by overdeveloping the site and lowering the quality of life for residents".