Background to the Riverside Community Forum

The offer to set up a group to foster better relations between RRRL and the local community and bodies arose during the 2003 and 2005 public inquiries into the proposed Riverside development. The purpose of such a group was to provide a forum for RRRL to offer information on the construction and operation of the facility and for the local community to gain a better understanding of what was happening and to convey directly to the company any queries or matters of concern.

The offer was subsequently accepted by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in deciding to grant consent for the development and made mandatory through its inclusion in a legal agreement forming an integral part of the consent. All aspects of the setting up, composition and running of the Forum were defined in the Terms of Reference, summarised elsewhere in this section.

The first meeting of the Forum took place on 19 July 2007 and comprised local councillors, representatives of local community groups and businesses, officers of Bexley Council and representatives of RRRL.