Each month, we email a bulletin to everyone who has signed up on this site. Below is the mailout that we sent in July 2021. 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.
IN THIS ISSUE… Your chance to communicate your thoughts and ideas to the park’s management +++ Fresh opportunity for a car-free day +++ Close passes, two collisions and the Police Panel +++ Gates to replace barriers +++ Three new food outlets opening soon
MEET FEAST
A meeting about meetings may not sound like the most thrilling opening item for this bulletin, but the outcome of a chat we had a couple of weeks ago with Simon Richards, the manager of Richmond Park, should help make the capital’s greatest free cycling resource an even better place to ride a bike.
Simon has agreed to meet us quarterly to better understand issues surrounding riding in the park. Being given the chance to meet management on a formal basis is a valuable opportunity, and we thank Simon for giving it to us. These management meetings will complement the meetings and regular communications we have with Sgt Peter Sturgess and his parks’ police unit.
We need you, our subscribers, to tell us about issues you want us to raise. We had a meeting (yes, another one!) on Wednesday to discuss amongst ourselves how other cyclists can contribute ideas for the quarterly meetings as well. We will let you know our plans when they are finalised ahead of the at our first get-together in September.
CAR-FREE ATTITUDE
Remember pre-pandemic times? Long-term subscribers may struggle to recall that, at the tail end of 2019, we floated the idea of having a car-free day in Richmond Park. The concept briefly resurfaced in February last year when The Royal Parks stated that it wanted to implement the idea across its green spaces. The following month, we included the recommendation of a car-free day in our submission to the Movement Strategy.
Fast forward 15 months later, and the indications are that a car-free day could get off the ground. We will be speaking to stakeholder groups to garner support, which we are confident of receiving.
The car-free day would be a family-friendly event, enabling all types of cyclists to use the park’s roadway, regardless of their levels of confidence or experience. We will keep you posted with our progress.
GATE OUTTA HERE
Begone, unsightly plastic! The temporary barriers and cones which limit the movement of motor vehicles during the ongoing traffic trial are scheduled to be replaced this autumn by timber gates and permanent roadways for cyclists. This is welcome news for those who are often surprised to find the layout of the barriers changing from week to week.
The gateways, which are designed by road engineers, will be clearly signposted and designed for easy navigation. They are removable but should stay in place at least until the conclusion of the traffic trial in March next year, when The Royal Parks decides on the extent to which through traffic is curtailed.
Following the conclusion of the Movement Strategy, The Royal Parks will begin installing courtesy crossings next to car parks, which are already busy pedestrian zones. We have yet to see the designs but we are hopeful they will have a cycle-friendly design and clear signage for pedestrians and cyclists.
PASS NOTES
How often do close passes occur in the park these days? With the numbers of cyclists coming to the park remaining high and traffic patterns returning to normal, there is good reason to suspect that the frequency of close passes is too much, especially for a recreational space.
That’s why we are asking the park’s police team about the possibility of measuring the incidence of close passing. This would have to be carried out by a specialist unit, rather than the park’s officers. We will make this request at the next quarterly Police Panel meeting, which takes place on Wednesday July 14. Let us know if there are any other issues you would like to bring up.
As usual, the police will provide figures and details at the meeting regarding cycling-related incidents in the park during the past quarter-year. We’ll go through them in our next monthly bulletin. In the meantime, here is some information about a couple of incidents that took place recently.
A driver collided with a cyclist at the entrance to the car park on Dark Hill on Tuesday, June 8. The cyclist only had minor grazes. The incident took place at around 6.50am, which is ten minutes before the park’s police unit came on duty. The local officer from Kingston who recorded the details mistakenly filed it as a restricted report, leading to a delay in the details being made public (and a false theory propagated by a deeply odd Twitter account that the police were “oblivious” to the collision). Many thanks to Sgt Sturgess from the park’s police unit for tracking down the details and successfully requesting that the report should not be restricted.
On Wednesday afternoon, a driver crashed into a fence at the bottom of Dark Hill. He claimed that a group of cyclists coming in the opposite direction went for an overtake in his lane so he had to choose between taking them out or going into the fence. There were no witnesses or CCTV, and the other side of the story is not yet known. If more information on either incident comes to light at the Police Panel meeting, we will let you know.
TWO’S COMPANY
You wait years for a food and drink outlet on the eastern side of the park and then two come along almost at once.
The old police hut in front of the toilets at Kingston Gate has been turned into a mini-cafe run by Colicci which is scheduled to open this weekend for a temporary summer trial. Round the corner on Park Road, the site of the old Richmond Park Cafe and vegan cafe Tava appears to be under new management after lying vacant for two-and-a-half years. It’s called Fika, and is yet to open its doors. Both look like welcome additions if, like us, you usually exit the park at Kingston Gate and fancy scoffing or imbibing a cheeky reward for knocking out a few laps.
Meanwhile, over at Sheen Gate, The Royal Parks plans to open another food and drink outlet in the next few weeks. It’s like they’re trying to fatten us all up!
PADDLE DO NICELY
A quick word about the free credit-card-sized flyers featuring the cycling Code of Conduct which local businesses are stocking. A rowing club whose members cycle in the park has contacted us to get their hands on a batch, and we have offered to give some to them. So if you are part of a local organisation and you too would like a few cards to distribute, please drop us a line.
SEE YOU NEXT MONTH...
As ever, thank you for allowing us to pop into your inbox, and let us know what you think about 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