Who Wins?
Happy Christmas to EastSheenMatters Subscribers.
When it’s developers v people, usually the money wins. See how one community came out on top
The Guardian 20 December 2025
“What happens when international capital arrives on your doorstep and threatens to devour your home? The residents of the housing estates surrounding Battersea power station in London, …… faced that prospect when, in 2012, a consortium of Malaysian investors bought the derelict power station, decommissioned since 1983, for £400m.
“………… Over the years, Battersea and the adjacent Nine Elms area was refashioned as a playground for oligarchs and other international elites. The US embassy arrived and when the shopping centre opened in 2022, it came with Rolex and Cartier stores, luxury private members’ clubs and apartments with multimillion-pound price tags.
“…………… Locals feared being forcibly displaced as occurred in Elephant and Castle and Stratford. In these areas of London, regeneration had become a byword for the social cleansing of working-class communities and their replacement by affluent residents.
“Yet a quiet victory has occurred that shows how communities can bargain with developers. Last month, Battersea power station announced that it would be working in partnership with Wandsworth council to build 203 council homes as part of the development’s 17-hectare (42-acre) master plan.
Continue readingSimon Renton writes with reference to the report at https://childlawobserver10.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=4347&action=edit
As regards the Mortlake brewery, there were a number of Irish labourers employed there in the 1860s. The following pages (extracts) of the autobiography of Adolphus Liddell, whose grave and that of his parents Sir Adolphus Liddell and Frederica Lane Fox and of his younger brother is in the Old Mortlake burial ground, reflects some of the concerns of the authorities in the Fenian times. The elder sister of Adolphus, Frederica Lascelles (nee Liddell), was the mother of my grandfather, Sir Alan ‘Tommy’ Lascelles.
See also LIDDELL, Sir Adolphus Frederick Octavius (1818-1885), civil servant. Permanent Under-Secretary at Home Office. Lived at Park Cottage, East Sheen, 1848-68. Buried Mortlake Cemetery with his wife who died 1867. Copied from the Barnes and Mortlake History Society Website at https://barnes-history.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/celHL.pdf
Barnes Conservation, a part of Barnes Common Ltd, are undertaking an exciting survey project to map all the garden ponds in the Richmond Borough and to find out where Frogs, Toads and Newts are living and breeding.
Barnes Conservation needs your help to identify the best places locally for Frogs, Toads and Newts to help them prioritise which ponds to restore and where to build new ponds. These animals are declining in numbers due to habitat loss, disease, climate, pollution and invasive species. These threats are all present in urban environments, making it a challenging place for them to live.
The survey will help applications for grants for habitat restoration in Palewell Park and Sheen Common.
To look at the survey go to https://forms.office.com/e/RHKuYfmitg?origin=lprLink
EastSheenMatters rarely reports from out of parish but the performance on 14 December of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major in the setting of St. Giles without Cripplegate was so exceptional as to require recognition outside the City of London.
Those of you who attended the Violin and Piano Concert at Christ Church in East Sheen on 21 November 2025 will remember the violin soloist Basil Alter whose performance then was reported at https://childlawobserver10.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=4137&action=edit
In this concert he was accompanied by the London Gay Symphony Orchestra, Conductor Christopher Braime, who were celebrating their 30th anniversary. The piece was premiered in Vienna in 1881 and was not then universally popular. A leading critic wrote:‘The violin is no longer played, but torn apart, pounded black and blue…..’. In truth the Concerto was so difficult that Tchaikovsky had difficulty in finding a violinist to perform it. In Basil’s modern and vigorous hands it is captivating; as written in the programme he brings the masterpiece to life with delightful charm and powerful emotion.
Orchestral works by Schumann and Glazunov completed the programme.
The Church was founded in 1394. It stood outside (without) the city walls. St. Giles is the patron saint of handicapped and infirm people. It survived the Great Fire of London but not 1940 bombing.
It is known for its connections with many well known people, including John Speed, probably the most famous mapmaker, and John Milton, best known for Paradise Lost, the greatest epic poem in English, who are both buried in the Church.
The evening also commemorated Adrian Sutton, who died in October, best remembered for composing the scores of War Horse and the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. Friends are setting up the Adrian Sutton Foundation to support young musicians to play orchestral and chamber music at a time where ‘music is being systematically stripped out of education’.
A Penalty Charge Notice issued recently to a friend was a salutory reminder of the risks of taking your car to Waitrose Car Park in East Sheen on a busy day. He had his rear wheels over a small part of the yellow line, on the best camera evidence stationery for four seconds. Count that while moving slowly forward in your car.
Highly dubious and if you’re a Latin scholar de minimis you might think. But in the TfL mind probably banged to rights because his exit was not clear when he entered the yellow box.
How many ways are there to get caught by the camera highup at the western end of Waitrose East Sheen?
Each has its perils. And to remind you again your exit must be clear.
BUT take 1, What if you drive out to go West and a car you have been unable to see speeds from the East and blocks your exit. You’re stuck, straddled across the yellow box.
Take 2. Wanting to turn left exiting the car park, you see a space in the inside lane into which you can properly exit. But a car which was in the outside lane nips into the space, you were planning to enter. You can no longer exit. You’re stuck.
Take 3. You are driving West wanting to enter the car park. The traffic lights to your left are at red so there is plenty of time and space to cross. But out of your sight to the right comes a slow moving buggy, for which being a decent driver you stop, allowing it to pass in front of you. Disaster – you are stationery in the Yellow Box. Your exit was clear but it is no longer.
Take 4. You are driving in a slow moving stream of traffic heading east and there is no obvious reason for it to stop so you anticipate that your exit should be clear. If the traffic did not continue its stream, everything would grind to a halt. For whatever reason, bus, lorry, pedestrian, the stream stops and you are caught a foot inside the box. Stuck again.
Note if you can put together some reasonable argument it is worth making an online representation. You might get lucky and in any event payment will be suspended. But realistically expect no mercy from TfL After all they are there to make money.
And if you think you do have a genuine case appeal to the Traffic Adjudicator. They are reasonable!
Imo the YellowBox would be better placed at the junction of Sheen Lane and the Upper Richmond Road. But perhaps TfL benefits more by trapping unwary Waitrose customers!
NB And don’t miss the second yellow box at the entrance to the Waitrose goods delivery entrance.
On Saturday 17th January Christ Church is holding a Holiday at Home Winter Warmer 12.30pm – 4.00pm at the Christ Church Community Hall.
There will be a soup and cheese lunch, a quiz, activities, a pantomime sketch, and tea and cake. Particularly with seniors in mind, but all welcome!
For more information please contact Charlotte Hillier charlotte.hillier@hotmail.com or Mike Stewart mstewart84@aol.com
EastSheenMatters drew attention to the current situation on the takeover of Pensford Field following the publication of a report from the Pensford Field Environmental Trust (PETS) outlining its plans to wind up the charity. https://childlawobserver10.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=4356&action=edit
One important point raised was the refusal of Richmond Council to disclose papers relating to the decision to terminate the PETS lease and grant a lease to Dose of Nature, and in particular a private meeting between the Leader of the Council and a Trustee of a Dose of Nature, Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner.
The Trust had asked the Local Government Ombudsman to investigate the case, but when he was sent the pre-action protocol letter in prospective judicial review proceedings in June 2025, the case officer dropped the case on the basis that the Trust had a remedy to go to court. The fact that the Trust could not possibly have afforded to pursue a judicial review cut no ice with the Ombudsman.
The Trust applied to the Information Commissioner for an order for disclosure. A decision is awaited.
The Leader of the Council has given assurances that public access to the site will remain and that it will be a condition of the lease to a Dose of Nature. But as yet there is no indication whether such a lease has been entered into.
The Leader has accepted that the matter could have been better handled and that there should have been more consultation, at the same time stating that it would have made no difference. Now there is a way to conduct a consultation. State the outcome in advance.
A scandal is turning into a conspiracy. Unless the Information Commissioner flexes his muscles.
Dare our local MP ask a question in the House? Haha.
This is where EastSheenMatters came in. See
There is no accountability or openness.
The Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley served with the Metropolitan Police from 2011 to 2018, following a number of prestigious police roles. He was appointed Commissioner in 2022.
He was involved with the decision to terminate the role of Richmond Parks Police. Apart from being told by him, that the Met had to make budget cuts, we have no idea how that decision was reached in the face of strong local opposition.
It was recently disclosed in the Times that Seidr Ltd, a private sector intelligence company, of which Rowley was Chairman and a director, received contracts from the Met during his four year absence. These contracts were for services provided to the UK-wide body Counter Terrorism Policing, which the Met leads. Seidr’s services were obtained without a public tender by using intermediary companies.
Before becoming Commissioner in September 2022, Sir Mark disclosed his shares in Seidr and resigned as director, with his shares now in a trust run by his son. The arrangement has raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest. The Metropolitan Police stated that Rowley managed his shares according to regulations and denied any wrongdoing. No new contracts have been awarded to Seidr since he returned to the force.
This is strangely reminiscent of the ‘false letters’ scenario during the Stag Brewery Planning Appeal, which was explored in a previous posting on 26 November 2024: see
The common factor between the Stag Brewery, Pensford Field and Seidr Ltd: a refusal to disclose documents, which were potentially important, and which might have shed light on the activities of prominent members of our community.
An aside: Seidr is an ancient word for Norse Magic.
Local residents will have noted that the Upper Richmond Road sprung a leak last week opposite Robert Dyas. You may have wondered which would arrive first: an icy road or Thames Water to shut the cock off.
On Saturday the barriers were erected, the leak stopped and the road reduced to one lane.
On Monday the hole was dug.
On Tuesday afternoon the hole remained and there was no sign of anyone in the hole.
On Thursday FINISHED! A day early!
So we had the usual lack of coordination between diggers and pipe menders, and probably next the road repairers. To be finished on 19 December?
Wholly different of course but the last couplet is somehow reminiscent!
‘Twas on a Monday morning
The gas man came to call
The gas tap wouldn’t turn, I wasn’t getting gas at all
He tore out all the skirting boards to try and find the main
And I had to call a carpenter to put them back again
Oh, it all makes work for the working man to do!
‘Twas on a Tuesday morning
The carpenter came round
He hammered and he chiselled and he said:
“Look what I’ve found!
Your joists are full of dry-rot
But I’ll put them all to rights.”
Then he nailed right through a cable and out went all the lights
Oh, it all makes work for the working man to do!
‘Twas on a Wednesday morning
The electrician came
He called me “Mr Sanderson”, which isn’t quite me name
He couldn’t reach the fuse box without standing on the bin
And his foot went through a window so I called a glazier in
Oh, it all makes work for the working man to do!
‘Twas on the Thursday morning
The glazier came along
With his blowtorch and his putty and his merry glazier’s song
He put another pane in
It took no time at all
But I had to get a painter in to come and paint the wall
Oh, it all makes work for the working man to do!
‘Twas on a Friday morning
The painter made a start
With undercoats and overcoats he painted every part
Every nook and every cranny
But I found when he was gone
He’d painted over the gas tap and I couldn’t turn it on!
Oh, it all makes work for the working man to do!
On Saturday and Sunday they do no work at all
So ’twas on a Monday morning that the gas man came to call!
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