Each month, we email a bulletin to everyone who has signed up on this site. Below is the mailout that we sent in November 2020. If you like it, please sign up on our Get Involved section - you will be showing your support for our work and you will receive our free monthly bulletins a month before they appear here.
LOCKDOWN LOWDOWN
Before this month’s bulletin gets properly underway, a few quick (and, perhaps, obvious) points about the new lockdown restrictions announced by the Government yesterday which come into force on Thursday.
You will still be able to ride your bike in Richmond Park, but please be aware that you should only ride with a maximum of one other person from another household. You can exceed this limit if your riding companions live with you or are part of your support bubble, as outlined on the Government’s guidance (under section 3, “Meeting with family and friends”).
The park’s roads may be less busy as there could be fewer commuter journeys due to more people working from home in line with the latest rules – and with gyms shut, perhaps there will be more people getting out on their bikes, despite the cold weather. We shall see. For now, though, on with the newsletter!
VIRTUALLY CONNECTED
If you had the opportunity to speak directly to the people who run Richmond Park, what would you say to them? Well, it’s time to get your thinking cap on, because the next stakeholders’ breakfast meeting is taking place in just over a week and, as ever, we are one of the groups who have been invited to attend by The Royal Parks.
Hosted by Tom Jarvis, TRP’s Director of Parks, and Richmond Park’s manager Simon Richards, the event will take place virtually on the morning of Tuesday, November 10th. The Royal Parks Police will also be presenting. Richmond Park Cyclists has a slot to address the group, which we will use to speak about our proposed cycling Code of Conduct (and we’ll fill you in on small developments on that front later in this bulletin).
The stakeholder meetings enable us to represent the interests of all types of cyclists who visit the park. Please hit reply to this email and let us know what issues you would like us to bring up.
HERE IT CULLS AGAIN
The second of the biannual deer culls begins tomorrow (Monday) – which means that, for approximately six weeks, you will not be able to ride your bike in the park from 8pm until 7.30am the following day. These restrictions are for your own safety as firearms are used.
TRP’s team locks the gates in rotation each night. If you arrive at the park shortly prior to locking time, please do not enter unless you are absolutely certain you can easily reach your exit before 8pm. Arrive at, say, 7.59 and you will most likely find your exit gate is already locked – so you will have to ride back to where you entered, which will now be shut as well, then wait for TRP’s team to return on its final sweep and open it for you. Save yourself getting into a right pickle by using the roads around the park instead.
The process, which is a sensible measure to control the number of deer, could last longer or shorter than the allocated six-week period, depending on the health of the herd. If we receive news of when the pedestrian gates will reopen after next month’s bulletin comes out, we will let you know via social media.
TRIAL SOMETHING ELSE
Not long now, chums! The third and final public consultation on the Movement Strategy is due to open in roughly a couple of weeks, and we will let you know via social media as soon as TRP announces a date for commencement. We will also give some tips for your response that should help increase the likelihood of Richmond Park becoming an even better place to ride your bike once whatever the specific measures TRP decides upon are put in place in February next year.
In the meantime, take a look at the letter we wrote to Mat Bonomi, TRP’s Head of Transport, and the park’s manager Simon Richards earlier this week. It sets out suggested improvements to the current traffic trial in the park that would benefit every type of cyclist and park visitor. Here is the main text...
Richmond Park Cyclists (RPC) welcomes The Royal Parks’ Movement Strategy and the efforts it is making to reduce through traffic in Richmond Park. During the first half of the six- month trial we have observed a very substantial and pleasing reduction in through traffic in all parts of the park, with the notable exception of the roads between Kingston, Ham and Richmond gates. We are now proposing a modest change to the Movement Strategy trial in order to observe the impact of a restriction on this stretch at weekends.
For the second half of the six-month trial RPC proposes that weekend restrictions on the through movement of motor traffic are extended to include the roads between Kingston, Ham and Richmond gates. The effect of these restrictions can then be compared with those of the first half of the trial when these roads have been largely open to through movement at weekends.
We suggest that to maximise the benefit to park users, vehicle access is restricted at weekends, which is when most people visit. Our suggested restrictions are as follows:
Via Kingston Gate to the car parks at Kingston Gate, Broomfield Hill and the disabled parking facility at Isabella plantation, and through movement to Ham Gate.
Via Ham Gate to the car parks at Isabella plantation, Kingston Gate and Broomfield Hill, and through movement to Kingston Gate.
Via Richmond Gate to Pembroke Lodge car park.
We believe the visitor experience will be safer, quieter and substantially enhanced as a result. During the weekend, those who would normally choose to drive through the park as a means of taking a shortcut may instead walk, take a bus, cycle or ride an ebike to their destination. Some will persist, possibly out of necessity, and use roads outside the park to make the same journeys anyway.
The community impacted most by any displaced traffic at weekends would be Ham and Petersham. The traffic added to Petersham Road and nearby areas will be like that experienced in communities surrounding government-supported Lower Traffic Neighbourhoods. LTNs have brought calmer, safer shared roadspaces into the heart of communities, with the surrounding roads bearing the burden of the traffic they displace. But in the case of Ham and Petersham, our suggested restrictions would last only over weekends. An argument has been expressed by Ham and Petersham residents that additional restrictions on through motor traffic on their side of the park means safer, quieter roads for cycling into and out of their area.
The Ham and Petersham community already bears all displaced motor traffic from Richmond Park in the morning and evening rush-hour periods during winter as all vehicle gates in the park are closed during the hours of darkness. Petersham Road copes. We suggest that substantially more traffic evaporation would develop as resident and non- resident weekend motorists adjust and the burden falling on Ham and Petersham should fall.
We are confident that this proposal is in line with what other park stakeholders would like to see. But, as ever, we welcome any feedback, so please let us know what you think.
GONE IN 20 SECONDS
A quick word on security for your bike, following a theft at the beginning of October. Well-known local racer Jake Martin had his distinctive yellow and red Carrera pilfered from outside the Roehampton Gate toilets after popping inside for just 20 seconds to fill his water bottle. The speed of the theft, and the fact that a number of bikes have been nicked from there in recent years, shows that you should always take precautions. Use a portable lock, remove a wheel – do both, if you can – or, if you are riding with someone, get them to keep an eye on your bike.
In an unrelated development, the park’s police unit recovered a bicycle which they believe was stolen from the park but they could not be completely certain as the identifying frame number was on a sticker that had been removed. The park’s police sergeant Peter Sturgess advises dabbing a solution known as ImmobiDot on your bike, which will make the ownership details viewable on the Police National Mobile Property Register and therefore increases the chances of your stolen bicycle being returned to you. See the Immobilise website to buy a marking kit and register or to find out more.
Staying with the lost and found theme of this item, a kind Facebook follower came across a rather expensive pair of headphones on Broomfield Hill last Saturday and has offered to post them back to the owner. If this is you, please email us with a description of the headphones and we will pass on your details.
ANGER? DON’T GO DOWN THAT ROAD...
With the traffic trial ongoing, it may seem like there are motorists breaking the rules by driving on closed or restricted roads. In fact, there is a long list of vehicles authorised to travel within the park, including those driven by teachers at the ballet school, delivery drivers, TRP staff and contractors – some of whom have been upset by the anger directed at them by cyclists who have leapt to the wrong conclusion.
It should go without saying, but please do not abuse any driver, and ask anyone you see behaving in this way to hold back. More prominent permits may be displayed in some vehicles in future, but in any case you should leave enforcement to TRP’s security and the police. Confrontations and anger can only damage the reputation of all cyclists who visit the park.
CODE TO PROGRESS
Finally, a note on some small but notable changes to our proposed Code of Conduct, which aims to make the park’s roadway a hospitable environment for every type of cyclist and other visitors. Following more suggestions from the park’s police unit, TRP and stakeholders, we’ve added the following:
The long version of the Code will now begin: “Richmond Park is a National Nature Reserve, and cycling in it is a privilege as well as a pleasure.”
The introduction advises: “If you are an experienced cyclist, your good behaviour can be an example to others.”
Under Stopping And Slowing: “At the raised crossings, you should stop for pedestrians.”
Also in Stopping And Slowing: “Deer are wild animals and can be unpredictable. Learn to read their behaviour – are they grazing or do they want to cross?”
And in “Show care when passing” under the Care And Courtesy heading: “Overtake smoothly, without a sudden surge in speed.”
If you haven’t seen the previous version of the proposed Code, which did not have the above changes, or you want a reminder of what it said, take a look at last month’s bulletin and give us your views.
SEE YOU NEXT MONTH...
Thank you for allowing us to pop into your inbox. As ever, let us know what you think about any of the subjects in this bulletin, or anything related to cycling in Richmond Park – we reply personally to every email you send us. If you enjoyed this bulletin, please share it with your cycling friends – and if they like what they read, encourage them to sign up to our mailing list too. The more subscribers we have, the bigger our voice.
All the best,
Richmond Park Cyclists
website: richmondparkcyclists.org
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