OVER 400 angry residents packed into a protest meeting in Whitton on Tuesday in a bid to save their much loved recreation ground.

The residents are fiercely opposing plans by Richmond upon Thames Council to remove the protection of Metropolitan Open Land status from Heathfield Recreation Ground, opening it up for potential development.

The council is also considering building a new secondary school on the site to replace Whitton School. Residents say this would result in them losing an important green space.

A new action group, likely to be called 'Friends of Heathfield Rec' is now in the process of being set up, in order to fight the proposed change to the council's Unitary Develop-ment Plan.

MP for Twickenham, Vincent Cable, who chaired the meeting, said the council would be 'unwise' if they ignored the protests and pressed ahead with their scheme.

He opened the meeting by explaining the proposals and how best they should fight it. He said: "I don't think you should be pessimistic. If the community joins together and directs their battle, we can win."

Discussion followed, with residents asking questions and voicing their objections. Several children spoke, asking where they were supposed to play if the park was developed.

One schoolgirl said: "Children are frightened to go in Crane Park and many of us are not allowed in on our own. Heathfield Rec is the only place we have left to play."

Cllr David Marlow, cabinet member with responsibility for parks, said that any proposed school would not encroach on the park and insisted that it would not be built on.

He said: "In general terms, the council are opposed to building on parkland and we are sticking to that. We want to preserve the recreation ground and want good education. This proposal is to enable that.

"The report from an officer said there will be no encroachment on the rec itself as far as the path, but they felt that flexibility was needed."

Yet the residents said that any sharing of the remaining ground would be very limited and asked why the council needed to remove the MOL status if they did not plan to build on the site. They also said they believed the council had an ulterior, money making motive as they had stated that if the school proposal fell through, the protected status would not be reinstated. Many believe that would open the ground up for housing.

Vincent Cable MP believed the meeting had been a success.

He said: "It was a quite remarkable demonstration of the strength of public feeling and the council would be decidedly unwise if they were going to push ahead with this. It was very clear from the meeting that Heathfield Rec is an enormously popular local resource and must not be changed.

"It is the only patch of grass in the area for local kids to play football and other games. Under the council's proposals some of it will disappear under concrete and the rest will have only restricted access. The residents are quite angry and I support them."

Leader of the Liberal Democrats Serge Lourie said the council could not fail to take notice of such a large meeting. He said: "I am appaled that the Conservative administration is planning to build on Heathfield recreation ground.

"The ward councillors, Vincent Cable MP and the Liberal Democrats will be fighting this destructive proposal. Even the Tories will have to listen to the 400 local people who are the tip of a much larger iceberg."

Jane Hartley, one of the meeting's organisers said: "We were amazed by the turnout, very pleased. It was a very good meeting, very good turnout and I would like to thank everybody who made the effort to come. There were a lot more people who couldn't make it because of work or family commitments and have put their views forward to the council.

"I haven't spoken to one person who is for the scheme. They don't want housing or a school, everybody has the same feeling, they don't want the Metropolitan Open Land status lifted.

"There is not enough parkland and it has all kinds of users, from children to the older generation. The council say they are not going to build on it but we don't trust them. The action group will be formed and we will fight them."

January 31, 2003 09:30