30-03-2013 - TRAG v RICHMOND COUNCIL – FUNDING OUR COURT OF APPEAL CHALLENGE

Thank you if you who have already replied to my earlier email or letter. The majority of you are clearly happy to fund our continuing campaign and this is been much appreciated by TRAG For all of you, this email gives information about the new situation facing us and the fund raising events we have organised for April.

We heard on 13th March that our request to appeal the High Court decision has been successful and one of the grounds within our overall argument is seen to have “a real prospect of success” by the Court of Appeal judge who granted permission. We are of course delighted; it avoids the need for an oral hearing and increases our chances of success to something like 55:45, according to our legal advisers. We believe there is a real opportunity to achieve our aim of overturning the dreadful planning decision of 19th December 2011, when Solum’s application was accepted by the then Planning Committee of Richmond Council, and getting planners to deliver a policy compliant low-rise station.

The full hearing has just been set for 29 or 30 April 2013, so there is not much time to reach our target of £40,000. This figure includes completed work to request permission to appeal, preparation for the hearing, attendance of our legal team on the day, VAT and £5,000 to cover the maximum costs of other side if we lose.

Fund Raising Events

We have organised two key fund-raising events over the coming 4 weeks which we invite you to attend:

Public Meeting: Thu 18th April: 7.30 pm at St Mary’s Church Hall Twickenham

We shall bring supporters up to date with TRAG developments and have invited our solicitor Susan Ring of Richard Buxton to join us again to answers questions about the appeal process. We shall also be inviting financial contributions.

Fund-raising supper: Thu 25th April: 7.30 pm at the Sheesh Mahal, 21 London Road, Twickenham TW1 3SX.

Tickets are available at £20 each, which will cover the price of the meal only. The bar will be open during the evening and we shall host an auction of promises to raise funds for our campaign. Could you let Lesley Heritage know if you would like a ticket(s) or have something you would like to propose or offer in the auction (fam6herit@aol.com).

We hope you will be able to join us at the above events. We also invite you to make your contributions as soon as possible, if you have not already done so, either through PayPal on our website using the “Donate” button (www.trag-sos.co.uk/ ) or by way of a cheque made out to “TRAG” and sent to me at the address below.

We are offering the same incentive as we did during the Judicial Review campaign: if we win and have surplus funds because the other side has to pay some of our costs, we will refund the amount, pro-rated to the level of donation, to those of you who contribute £100 or more. This arrangement is limited to all donations which are given specifically in support of the Court of Appeal target of £40,000.

Best regards,

John

John Watson

TRAG spokesperson and Assistant to the Treasurer

On Tuesday 20th November, TRAG held a Public Meeting where our solicitor explained the judicial review process and was there to answer questions.