Dear Neighbour

Redrow and The Jockey Club are just friends.

So we were told at the second meeting of the Kempton Park Racecourse Residents Liaison Group earlier this month. (The first meeting was six months ago.) Present, with the PR consultant for the Kempton Park development, and the MD of the racecourse, were representatives from KKG, LOSRA, The Hampton Society and the Kempton Residents Association, as well as some councillors from the two Sunbury wards.

Far from Redrow being the dead cert (as they say in racing circles) to build the proposed 1500 dwellings plus commercial units at Kempton Park, they are just a company with whom The Jockey Club is “friendly”.

Was there a beauty contest  (perhaps bloodstock sale is a better description – see https://keepkemptongreen.com/2014/07/10/mr-concrete/ ) involving other potential construction “friends?”, we asked. “Yes”, we were told. Did Redrow win that beauty contest? “Weeeeeell …”, was the reply.

Of course, no-one ever suggested that Redrow would definitely build the Kempton Park development, should it gain planning permission in defiance of local opinion, central government planning guidance and the Council’s own rules. Merely that they had won an option to buy the land, subject to all sorts of provisos. Anyway, a formally recognised “friend” they have become, and “friend” they shall stay.

A2Dominion, however, the social housing charity who did not win the beauty contest, (despite, we are sure, showing off their assets to best advantage), will never become a friend of The Jockey Club. They were the ones who let the Kempton Park cat out of the bag at the Overview & Scrutiny Committee. The way they had spoken to the Committee, we were told, was deplorable, and pretty much ruled them out of the “friendship” stakes for the foreseeable. A non-runner, as they say.

A previous “friend” of The Jockey Club, Mouchel, have been unfriended. Mouchel were the transport consultants for the Kempton Park development. They were the ones responsible for the enormous amount of work that has gone into the traffic feasibility survey (see  https://keepkemptongreen.com/2014/03/21/keep-kempton-green-10/ ) of local roads, and the more recent roadside graffiti and CCTV cameras at Hampton Court, the Hampton Court Triangle, and Kempton Park itself. This was, we were told, because The Jockey Club wants instead to become “friends” with a company that could build, as well as design, the roadways they are planning to deal with the extra burden of traffic from the 1500 dwellings and commercial units.

Who could this new “friend” be? Are they also a “friend” of Redrow, who insisted on Mouchel being ousted as a potential rival for The Jockey Club’s affections? As soon as we find out, we’ll let you know.

Don’t forget the Public Meeting on Kempton Park. 3 February at the London Irish Centre off Croysdale Avenue in Sunbury. Doors open 6:15 pm, presentation and Q&A session from 7:00pm.

And thanks to all those who have signed the petition over the Christmas break. If you have not yet signed, please go to

http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/keepkemptongreen

or follow the links at http://www.keepkemptongreen.com

Kind regards
Keep Kempton Green