Each month, we email a bulletin to everyone who has signed up on this site. Below is the edition that we sent in June 2023. 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… +++ Tell the Royal Parks how the road installations have affected you +++ One-way proposal for roads outside Kingston Gate +++ Hero PC helps save stricken cyclist +++ Speed watchers revealed +++
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SPEAK OUT
It’s time for you to let The Royal Parks know how you feel about the controversial new road installations, which are continuing to cause frustration and conflict between cyclists and motorists.
Last week we captured some of the issues on camera as we cycled over Beverley Brook Bridge with Tim Lennon from the Richmond Cycling Campaign en route to Holly Lodge, where we met with Paul Richards, the park’s manager, and Sgt Pete Sturgess from the park’s police unit. At that meeting, Paul agreed to give us a copy of the independent safety report which green-lit the hazardous new infrastructure and the 10mph limit on Broomfield Hill. A second safety report is due to be delivered on the 12th, and a separate park-wide accessibility audit should examine how disabled people, cargo bike riders and others are impacted by the road changes.
A few weeks prior to speaking with Paul and Sgt Pete, we attended the latest Stakeholders’ Meeting at Pembroke Lodge, where Tom Jarvis, the outgoing Head of Parks, appeared to strike a conciliatory tone. Regarding Beverley Brook and the priority flow near Roehampton Gate, the minutes record him stating: “We will continue with the safety audit to ensure these areas are safe. If the audit shows that we’re then looking at our measures as an inconvenience, we then need to work with stakeholders to resolve this. [...] This is a learning process for us.”
But park manager Paul warned us last week that the safety audit may recommend that all the measures stay in place – which is precisely our fear, especially as the company carrying out the report is the same one that gave them the go-ahead in the first place.
During the meeting at Holly Lodge, it emerged that TRP has been landed with a £9,000 bill to remove graffiti sprayed in a number of locations on the road in protest. Naturally, we deplore this vandalism, and recommend a more constructive course of action: communicating directly in a civil way with the park management so they are aware how counterproductive their changes have been. We’ve set out our views, but we think TRP and its safety consultants may not appreciate the strength of your feeling unless they hear from subscribers directly. Please email richmond@royalparks.org.uk, expressing in your own words how the infrastructure and the new 10mph limit has impacted your enjoyment of the park, and copy us in.
Here are the four key changes we want to see made which you may want to incorporate in your message:
Move the timber posts back from the outside edge of the road at the new gateways to make them less threatening to cyclists.
Create free-flowing cycle slip lanes in both directions at the new give-way priority systems over Beverley Brook Bridge and next to Roehampton Gate car park.
Relocate signage on the back of gates and fencing which currently block sightlines.
Revert to 20mph signage on Broomfield Hill. When we brought this issue up with the police, they indicated that they would not stop cyclists if they exceeded 10mph unless they were riding in a manner that endangered others or themselves. But inevitably some will see the signs and dutifully keep their speed at around 10mph, which creates a potential hazard by increasing the difference between slower and faster riders.
For further inspiration, you can also read our open letter to park manager Paul, which is on our website here. He has said he will respond to it in due course.
Taken as a whole, the traffic restrictions introduced by the Movement Strategy have made the park a safer and more hospitable place to ride a bike. We want to make sure this good work is not undermined by the new changes which were not part of the trial.
THERE’S ONLY ONE WAY
Congratulations to the Friends of Kingston Gate, whose decade-long campaign against frequently dangerous local traffic conditions has succeeded in persuading the council to propose a one-way system, with a contraflow for cycling, on King’s Road and New Road.
As documented on the group’s Twitter account over the years, the area outside the gate is often congested with little room for motor vehicles to safely pass each other, resulting in traffic queuing into the park, angry confrontations, injuries to cyclists, and motorists sometimes coming to blows. So this proposal seems like a sensible solution.
Some would instead prefer road filtering similar to Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, but the FoKG say councillors have ruled this out. It’s one-way or no way – and if this proposal fails, it would be particularly disappointing given that a similar scheme was rejected in 2019 after a public consultation.
The council will vote on the scheme at a committee meeting on Tuesday, and the proposed start date for works is September 23. We will pass on details of how to show support when we have them.
THANKS FROM THE HEART
Take a bow, PC Paul Barber! The park’s long-serving police officer helped save the life of a cyclist who had collapsed on the grass after ascending Broomfield Hill last month – and now Paul is being given an award in recognition of his speedy help.
A couple of minutes after two members of the public stopped and gave emergency first aid, Paul arrived on the scene to administer a defibrillator on the stricken man. The cyclist, who is believed to be in his late forties or early fifties, has now made a full recovery.
Paul was typically modest about his role in the incident when we bumped into him at Pen Ponds earlier this week, so it is our pleasure to spread the word a little more widely, and thank him for his actions.
BAD SHOUT
Unacceptable behaviour from a small number of cyclists in a couple of contexts has been a cause of concern for the park’s management recently.
The first is verbal abuse directed at visitors driving to the ballet school. Some cyclists direct their anger at these drivers incorrectly assuming that they do not have permission to be on Sawyer’s Hill. Many of these visitors will have a permit on display. If you see anyone on a bike acting aggressively in this way, please ask them to desist, as their behaviour causes huge distress to their targets as well as affecting the reputation of us all. And if you see a driver in any of the restricted areas, do not confront them – pass the details to police who can take appropriate action if necessary as they have successfully done many times.
The second concern is regarding Royal Parks’ staff preventing traffic from heading towards car parks when they are full at weekends and Bank Holidays. A number of cyclists have berated them after being asked to stop which, again, cannot be tolerated. Treat these staff members with respect, and politely call out anyone you encounter who does not do so.
SPEEDY RESOLUTION
On a final note, a mystery has been solved: the two men who pointed a speed-recording device at one of our subscribers while she descended Sawyer’s Hill were representatives from the Friends of Richmond Park, who apparently measure cycling and driving speeds on a regular basis.
We have thanked the Friends’ chairman Roger Hillyer for contacting us after he read the item in last month’s bulletin, and requested that his helpers refrain from pointing their devices at cyclists descending Broomfield Hill in case they startle or distract them, thereby causing a crash. We also look forward to seeing the Friends’ data once it is complete.
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