A thank you letter (with an ask)

A family walking in Richmond Park.

Dear Mat,

A couple of months ago you closed Richmond Park to motor traffic. And I can’t thank you enough for that.

Your Movement Strategy kind of hints at how we need our parks to be more for people and less for cars, but until the pandemic, I don’t think most people could really elaborate, in their heads, what a park for people looks like.

So I want to tell you about what I see when I ride round the park. Tonight, specifically. It’s the first Saturday the park has been open to cycling for a long time indeed, and it was glorious.

I rode twice round the park, and I saw things that I expect to see in a park, but that I never expected to see in Richmond park, and I want to share some of those pictures with you, and with everyone who can influence whether we let cars back in to use the park as a replscement for A3 or the Petersham Road.

Apologies for the image quality — these are all still from a camera mounted on my handlebars. (images at the end)

In your park, people walk on the road. They scoot on the road. They use wheelchairs and pushchairs on the road. They ride side by side and chat to each other. They stop (too close, sadly) to admire the deer. The deer have reclaimed space all around the road where previously you’d rarely have seen them. People teach their kids how to cycle. People amble through the park carrying all sorts of weird stuff. People randomly walk down the middle of the road as if it is the most normal thing in the world. People stop in the road to check their messages. Kids run across the road and then their parents wave kindly as you roll by, without a care in the world.

And children play in the park as if it is a park.

In the last two months, I think your park has been visited by a wider diversity of visitors — by age, demographic, ethnic origin — than ever before, and I think it would be a crime to let the park be dominated by cars again.

Will surrounding roads suffer? For a while they certainly will, but history has shown us that letting people drive through the park doesn’t ease congestion on many of those roads: they remain at capacity at peak hours, and the park being open would be like me loosening my belt because I’ve put on weight — it jut delays dealing with the issue.

So I love what you’ve done to our and every other Royal Park, Mat. I love that it has become space for people, and not for their cars. Please keep it like that!

Yours,

Tim.

(Edit: many more and better pictures have been taken by @westcountrytim on Twitter: https://twitter.com/westcountrytim/status/1287087716107194373)

Children riding with their families. People stopping for a selfie.

Walking in the park, more children …

Families crossing safely and easily. Frieds riding together.

Stopping to check a phone here? Not a problem, even in the chicane. More people playing …

Friends riding (notce the casual wear), walking, or just stopping on the road.

Kids on scooters, on the road. People wander across the roundabout. Families riding together.

Need to check the map? On a bike, in a car free park, you can jsut stop. Crossing easily again, walking in a group.

Saving the best til last. All three of these totally unavailable in a car dominated park.