Council told to think again about absurd ‘villages’ (London Liberal Democrats)

London Liberal Democrats <info@libdems4london.org.uk>

Council told to think again about absurd ‘villages’

November 26, 2011 1:52 PM
Originally published by Twickenham & Richmond Liberal Democrats

• [Nov 25]: RICHMOND Council's Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee has voted to make Tory cabinet member Cllr Pam Fleming think again about designating every neighbourhood in the borough as a 'village' as part of the Council's 'All-in-One' planning process.

Cllr Martin Elengorn, Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson said: "I'm glad that councillors from both parties agreed with me that the administration's description of local towns like Richmond, Twickenham and Teddington as 'villages' is plain absurd. Teddington has 8 churches, 6 bus routes and 8 trains an hour and the population of a fair-sized town.

"Asking people to get involved in planning for their neighbourhood while pretending it is something out of Midsomer Murders will put off whole sections of the population, particularly younger people. Of course many of our neighbourhoods contain within them a pre-Victorian village but let's celebrate its character as special and different from that of later developments. These have the virtues and problems of urban and suburban development and pretending they are villages doesn't help anyone."