Residents Furious Over Council Plan for Kneller Gardens

10.18.59am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 19th Jul 2005

Local residents in west Twickenham are furious over Council plans to hand over a local park - Kneller Gardens - to a local rugby club, the Thamesians. The Club will get a 25 to 30 year senior tenure rights with provision for a floodlit pitch and 11 car parking places.

Vincent Cable MP was critical of the way that the Council had "pushed the proposal to near completion without consulting local residents"; "two years ago the Council wanted to turn the park into playing fields for a hypothetical secondary school and it was only when the residents and I protested strongly that they backed down. Now they are trying again - I don't doubt that a properly maintained rugby pitch might be a useful, and popular, addition provided there is no restriction on public access. But what will alarm residents is that the Club have gone out to competitive tender for floodlighting without informing residents in a nearly residential development, let alone getting prior permission."