Contacts

The Teddington Society
21 Teddington Park
Teddington TW11 8BD

Contact by e-mail:
secretary@teddingtonsociety.org.uk

The Spring 2007 issue of Tidings includes the following:

• Letter from the Chair
• From the Editor
• Reports from the Groups
• Normansfield Theatre
• Teddington Police Station Public Meeting
• Tales of the River Bank
• New Year's Honours 2007
• The Lords of the Manor of Teddington
• Annual General Meeting
• Diary and Events

Letter from the Chair
Writing this at the end of January, I feel that there are two main issues occupying our minds in Teddington. First of all there is the local issue of the proposed 30 custody cells at Teddington Police Station. A remarkable turnout of many hundreds of Teddington residents at the meeting on 22nd January (see report below) showed how strong is local antipathy to this scheme, which also has serious logistical and operational deficiencies which would create more problems than it would solve. The Teddington Society’s overlapping membership with the Teddington Action Group has meant that we are kept fully informed of developments and have been able to provide encouragement and financial support.

The other problem is one that concerns the whole world, but it has been forcibly brought home to those of us (most of Teddington’s residents) who are gardeners. It is the issue of climate change - unseasonable warmth, camellias flowering two months early, destructive gales and torrential rain. As sea levels continue to rise in the decades ahead Teddington could be at serious risk and action is needed now to avert catastrophe.

On a happier note, I was delighted to welcome so many of our members to the New Year party and hope to see an equally good turn out for the AGM in April.

Jenny Hilton

From the Editor
Jenny Hilton has raised in her letter some of the issues that are presently concerning Teddington residents, including of course, the proposed redevelopment of the Police Station as a custody suite, a matter which is covered more fully later in this newsletter. It is at times like these that people turn to our Society for advice and support, and we are very lucky that we have such dedicated and hard-working Convenors, who are willing to give up huge chunks of their “spare” time to following up neighbourhood concerns. However, they cannot do this alone. Every Group could do with more members willing to take an active part, and the Planning Group has not even got a permanent Convenor.

I have raised this matter before, and now I have also to put in a plea for somebody to take over my role as editor of Tidings in a year’s time. This is a job I agreed to do for 4 years, and I am just now entering my fourth year. I will be giving up at the start of 2008. If there is anyone out there who has an interest in editing, I would be delighted to hear from you! In the year before I took over, I worked alongside the outgoing editor, Susan Lowitt, for several issues. I would be most happy to have anyone with an interest in taking over the role next year working with me on any or all of the next 3 issues.

Meanwhile, unless you pay by Standing Order, please remember to fill in and return your membership application for the new year.

Margaret Chan

Normansfield Theatre
The recent performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s opera, Patience, was the first production in the Normansfield Theatre since 1909. The charming little theatre was built by Dr and Mrs Langdon Down, as part of their family home and the hospital, which they founded in 1868 for people with what Dr John Langdon Down diagnosed and classified as Down’s Syndrome.Part of the therapy they prescribed was to encourage those under their care to perform and sing together. The theatre was part of their day to day life, giving them confidence and calmness.

So it is pleasing that the proceeds from this new production of Patience, beautifully performed by the Carl Rosa Opens Company,were given to the Langdon Down Centre Trust, who have managed the restoration of our local theatrical gem and continue to support those who work with Down’s Syndrome. There will be future events at the Normansfield Theatre, offering further opportunities to enjoy the theatre while supporting the work of the Trust.

Jim Shrike

Teddington Police Station Public Meeting
A public meeting to discuss issues around the proposed redevelopment of Teddington Police Station as a 30 cell custody suite was held at the Baptist Church on January 22nd. The main hall was full by 6.45 pm and an overflow one not too soon after. 500 residents got into the two halls - the police had planned for an expected 300. As the meeting started, Church stewards allowed a further 100 residents in, putting them on the balconies, leaving, what was by then, another 150 outside. It was a most interesting meeting, with the police team, headed up by Southwest London Commander Simon Bray, seeming totally unprepared for the strength of the anti-custody suite feeling among Teddington’s residents.

It became very clear that it is issues of cost and accommodation that are driving police thinking, rather than a more efficient arrest handling policy and the need to get arresting officers back onto the beat as soon as possible. In fact, the savings they showed on staffing were due largely to the employment of Dedicated Detention Officers in place of constables. It seems fair to ask why they don’t use them now.

What the police team did not show in either their presentation or the accompanying documentation, were the costs of the time that would be wasted by arresting officers travelling across boroughs and queuing up to off-load prisoners - these additional costs should have been netted off against any theoretical savings. My guess is that actual costs would increase were this plan implemented. Having looked at the logistics, I have never been convinced that large custody cell units are the answer to Kingston’s or Richmond’s occasional prisoner overload problems.

The police team completely failed to recognise the unsuitability of the Teddington site.The problems caused by the lack of bridges over the Thames were ignored, although the scatter pattern arrest diagram clearly shows that the majority of arrests (about 80%) occur across the river from Teddington, on the East side - which includes Richmond, Barnes etc. So it would make sense for any combined unit to be sited over that side - perhaps at Tolworth. Richmond’s needs can be met by two medium sized modern units, one either side of the river - perhaps with Twickenham police station being rebuilt on the old Twickenham railway station site (behind the GPO). Kingston still has its very large old police stationmothballed - that could be brought back into use.

Dr Vincent Cable, our MP, and Cllr James Mumford spoke against the development. Lady Hilton, Chair of the Teddington Society, spoke tellingly, calling on her own long service with the Metropolitan Police which had involved the implementation of custody cell policy in many places, including Charing Cross, and which led her to believe that it was not possible to have a “one size fits all”policy across very different local situations.

Mike Patten gave a very convincing speech on behalf of the Teddington Action Group (TAG) with a particularly useful slide show of pictures of some of the Custody suites already in place in neighbouring areas. All were on, or close to, semi-industrial or commercial developments and were several times the size of the proposed Teddington development. There were also photographs taken from bedroom windows overlooking our Teddington police station, which pointed up just how close private housing is all round the site.

One factor that was not brought out during the meeting but which was referred to in the ancillary information provided by TAG was that the Teddington site, which is prime development land, is worth around £3.5million. If this land were sold for housing development, the proceeds, together with the £6.7 million already allocated for modernisation plus the possible sale other sites,would provide plenty of funds for radical upgrading of the Richmond police estate on both sides of the river. The police have agreed to go away and have a rethink, and have suggested further meetings. We would prefer that they withdraw the proposals, but if not, that a joint working party be set up to find a more suitable site.

Brian Holder

STOP PRESS!!
Following the public meeting, Aneeta Prem, the MPA member who leads on issues relating to the Metropolitan Police estate, said: “While the Authority fully endorses the need to modernise the police estate across London, and specifically recognises the need to enhance our custody facilities, we also recognise the fundamental need to consult local residents about proposed changes and the effect on the immediate area.This was not satisfactorily carried out in Teddington - indeed, the way this entire issue was handled locally can serve as an object lesson in how not to consult. “…In Teddington we now need to take stock and consider what other options or locations will better meet the need to provide custody capacity. I, with colleagues at the MPA, will be monitoring progress to ensure that timely and effective consultation does take place this time and the local community is fully involved in the process.”

Want to voice your opinion on this issue?
Contacts:
The Borough Commander
Twickenham Police Station
41 London Road
Twickenham TW1 3SY
email: richmond@met.police.uk

The Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA)
10 Dean Farrar Street
London SW1H ONY
email: membersservices@mpa.gov.uk

TAG (Teddington Action Group)
email: teddingtonagainstgaol@yahoo.co.uk

Note: In early March 2007, it was announced by the police that the proposal for theis Teddington custody unit had been abandoned.