| Topic: | Re:Re: Richmond Park Could Be Traffic Free - What's Your View? | |
| Posted by: | Richard Carter | |
| Date/Time: | 14/06/19 00:34:00 |
| I do hope that the Royal Parks will have the courage of their convictions and put a stop to through traffic whilst preserving access. The simplest way to do it would be by blocking the roads between gates; people could access the Park by parking at the car park next to the gate where they enter. However, it could be argued that if they lived, for example, on the opposite side to Pembroke Lodge but wanted to go there, they would have to circumvent the Park to get to it. There are two ways round this: 1. Provide a non-polluting electric shuttle service to go round the Park as they do in, for example, Kew Gardens, or 2. Use ANPR to identify vehicles entering; those that then left the Park within, say, 30 minutes would clearly be using it as a through route and could be made to,pay a toll, whereas who spent longer there would be people accessing it and would not have to pay the toll. This would preserve access but not at the expense of allowing through traffic. The reason this issue is important is that it's a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a National Nature Reserve and, under the EU's Habitats Directive, a Special Area of Conservation. It really is a scandal that the motoring lobby has been allowed to get away with using the Park as part of the roads network all this time, and I really hope the Royal Parks will at last stop this abuse. |