Richmond park off limits to bikes

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/richmond-park-cyclists-robbed-moped-gang-machete-london-b960012.html

Seems they are tarmac-ing a section of the Tamsin Trail (off-road loop) next to Broomfield hill. Was the one section that was vaguely testing. Seems an odd decision. I imagine it may encourage some to ride too fast going down it.

Going down it was sketchy few times I've attempted, but sad to see them turn that into Col du Broomfield...

Ahh, that's a shame. I saw they were resurfacing it last weekend but thought they were just repairing the track.

It does get sketchy pretty quick and I bet it sees some incidents. Heavy rain (of which we seem to be getting more intense episodes of) ruts out the bottom section and the last bit becomes very sandy in summer. The challenging aspect is probably a bit too much for what is meant to be a family friendly loop for any ability. Is a shame though. The naughty descent right by the park wall on the outside is good fun on a mountain bike, but obviously illegal so you should never attempt that, even at dusk when the park is pretty empty...

Yep, the sad thing is mainly the idea of putting more tarmac on what should be a natural area of parkland. The surface and the gradient meant you could do a short effort uphill while going at a speed that's considerate pace for walkers etc.

The creeping urbanisation of parks, Metropolitan Open Land, and Common Land has been a problem for a long time and always has to be resisted. I'm sure there will be a rationale somewhere why they've taken this decision, and I don't know the park at all, but it doesn't sound good.

yup, will have cars using it soon

Does anyone know why Roehampton pedestrian gate shut today and yesterday? I thought they were open from 7:30am to 8pm during cull. Is it due to bloody Eunice?

Yeah, fallen trees.

Ah cheers

Yep...wonder how extensive the carnage is.

1 Attachment

https://www.royalparks.org.uk/managing-the-parks/park-strategies/the-royal-parks-transport-and-movement-strategy/richmond-park2

"
Outcome of the Movement Trial in Richmond Park

After extensive traffic analysis and over two years of trials, we are making three measures permanent:

• No through traffic between Broomfield Hill Car Park and Robin Hood Car Park
  
• A permanent closure of the vehicle link between Sheet Gate and Sheen Cross
  
• On weekends and public holidays, a restriction on all cut-through traffic between Roehampton and Richmond Gates.
  
  

The car park access arrangements that have been in place throughout the trial will also now be made permanent. Please refer to the map on this page for more detail.
"

It's a start I suppose. Still too many cars in the park.

It's a start. It's insane at the moment during the week. This morning at 7.15 there was a queue to get in at Richmond Gate and continuous streams of traffic from there to both Kingston and Roehampton. Made it quite unpleasant actually, and I'd gone that way to avoid the traffic hell that is Sheen - Barnes.

Deer cull has started. Park closed at nights (8pm to 7.30am) until the end of March.

https://mailchi.mp/c8b1e91c7cae/rpc-bulletin-61-february-2023?e=d1f9eb6dd5

Kind of fits with some of the driving I’ve seen near Pembroke Lodge car park:

One driver overtook another at Pembroke Lodge to nab a parking space. The other driver punched him, kicked him and pulled him out of his vehicle.

Great to see the beginnings of work to replace the temporary cones and barriers.

Looks like it's now off-limits to cross country events... (exploding head emoji)

(edit: It's xc running)

Unfortunately, we are no longer accepting cross country events in Richmond Park as we feel these are not suitable for the park being a SSSI [site of special scientific interest] and NNR [Natural nature reserve].

https://athleticsweekly.com/blog/richmond-park-bans-cross-country-racing-1039964759/

Only xc or is that on top of cross and maybe other things too?

Admittedly I've precisely zero idea how long it can take an area to recover or if it's actually helpful but I've seen the mess a cross race leaves in it's wake.

Discalimer: I didn't even click your link.

This seems like a category for a sport called 'running' which I have zero idea about.

I shoulda clicked the link eh?

I guess the runners don't churn the ground up as much but probably leave more cups/gel wrappers/foil blankets behind than we do eh?

I think they missed out the “We do however welcome queues of climate destroying SUV’s”

If you have time to be doing all that in a cross country race, you're doing something wrong!

The London League has a number of case studies that show the damage a cross race does to a venue. Even after the muddiest of races, you’d be hard pressed to find any signs of damage a few months after the event.

months is kinda long no? anyway

I wonder if they'll also end Park Run, British Military Fitness, London Duathlon etc?

Is there any link to an original press release other than the AW article?

Here's more info direct from the Royal Parks.

https://www.royalparks.org.uk/whats-on/latest-news/running-in-richmond-park

They'd still like to have events in the park but they need to reroute various things to protect the skylarks.