Our Richmond Park MP reports in her weekly newsletter that she has been meeting with residents from Mortlake and Kew to hear about the local and national issues that have been on their minds over the last few months.

“ In Mortlake, it was unsurprising that issues around traffic and Hammersmith Bridge came up on several occasions but with the task force set to meet later in the year and a new Government in place, it does feel as if there may be light at the end of the tunnel.”

What is surprising is that the newsletter gives the impression that no-one in Mortlake raised any questions about the Stag Brewery planning applications and the Planning Inquiry which starts on 5 November 2024. Surprising especially when you look at the number of objections to the applications.

Meanwhile Richmond upon Thames Council has firmly declined to provide a streaming of the Inquiry, in spite of the request from the Planning Inspector to do so. The hearings are to take place in Twickenham at 10am each morning, not a straightforward trip in the rush hour. So the majority of the population most affected by the applications will not be able to see the oral evidence being given in support of and against them.

What possible justification can the Council have for their intransigence? They have the facilities to stream; they do so regularly for Council meetings. In any event private inquiries have demonstrated that it would not be costly. There are local amateur football clubs which stream their matches. The Council did so when it held a local ‘consultation’ meeting.

Given all the evidence one is driven to the conclusion that the local authority is very reluctant to give more publicity than is absolutely necessary to the inquiry. And even sadder our MP is complicit in this conspiracy of silence. These are dark days for Richmond LibDems and quite the opposite of the open government one had hoped for when they were elected.