DISCUSSIONS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF TEDDINGTON’S UDNEY PARK PLAYING FIELDS HIT A BRICK WALL
The future of Udney Park playing fields remains uncertain as latest negotiations to acquire the land for community use have hit a brick wall. The Chinese owner of the land, Mr Wu, who had wanted to build badminton courts at the site, is still demanding about £3.5 million to purchase the land, while the historic pavilion and the tennis courts continue to deteriorate.
This disappointing update below has been provided by Jonathan Dunn, Chair of the Trustees of the Udney Park Community Fields Association.
Mr Dunn writes: I thought that I ought to update everyone as the latest moratorium period under the ACV (Asset of Community Value) is about to expire.
At this point Mr Wu can market the site again to commercial bidders. Before the moratorium period he attempted to sell the site over a twelve-month period and attracted an offer from a single developer called Mr Williams. This bid later evaporated. No doubt Mr Wu hopes for more meaningful interest the next time around.
The bid to buy the fields submitted by the Udney Park Community Fields Foundation during the moratorium period was firmly rejected. The Foundation remained the only ACV compliant bidder. This bid was based upon valuing the site as playing fields without any commercial development.
Mr Wu (the current owner) has confirmed via his representatives that he would ‘certainly would not want to make a loss on this investment’. In other words, Mr Wu would require a payment of circa £3.5m to agree to sell. This is way beyond the reach of the any community group and would require a commercial proposal to be acceptable.
Some small encouragement came in September – the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill had its second reading in Parliament. Part of the Bill introduces a Community Right to Buy, replacing the previous Right to Bid framework that existed for ACV’s. I am not sure if this will impact upon Udney Park, as the bill has still to go through committee and report stage.
LBRUT will have to consider the costs, time, and risks of trying to enforce a sale to the community via a CPO. Failing this the impasse will continue into its second decade if Mr Wu will not compromise on price.
I have separately approached Mr Wu about extending the use of the playing fields beyond the nighttime training by Teddington RFC but have made no meaningful progress.
The condition of the tennis courts remains limited as the surface of the courts is failing and at least one of the courts is now dangerous to play on due to damage by tree roots.
After pressure from residents the roof to the 1922 memorial pavilion was eventually repaired, and I also understand that an asbestos strip took place as part of a soft strip inside the building, but the pavilion remains out of public use and will require considerable investment to provide changing room facilities again. The fields and boundaries are well maintained – it seems that this is part of the lease agreement with Teddington RFC.
So no real progress I am afraid.