| Topic: | Reply | |
| Posted by: | Richard Carter | |
| Date/Time: | 14/06/19 18:04:00 |
I don't know of any specific studies of the harm caused by motor traffic in the Park, but there have been a number of studies of traffic there: (1). In 1996 Dame Jennifer Jenkins chaired a review of the Park which concluded that traffic formed a "cordon of steel" which divided the central wilderness area from the remainder, going on to say that "this stretch of countryside, itself quite extraordinary within a world city, is undermined by noise, pollution, congestion and danger from cars, all aspects of the surrounding great city which most park visitors have come to escape (Royal Parks Review: Richmond and Bushy Parks, Department of National Heritage, February 1996). (2) Subsequently, the Royal Parks commissioned a study of traffic there which found that the proportion of through traffic on weekdays was between 94 and 98 per cent and even at weekends it was about 80 per cent (Richmond Park: Study of existing traffic conditions within the Park, Peter Brett Associates, December 1998). (3) In 2003, a consultation document by the Royal Parks said, in para 3: "The presence of any traffic in the Park presents a threat to the delicate balance within it. Cars can be a significant visual intrusion, and the noise they create disturbs the tranquillity which so many visitors value. Speeding traffic presents an obvious threat to visitor safety. Traffic, and the roads themselves, create barriers for people and for wildlife. It is not only deer which are at risk of road kill; species large and small suffer, the latter going largely unnoticed. Pollution from cars – dust, petrochemicals, oils and fumes, even water spray – are all harmful to plants and animals, and noise pollution is also an issue for wildlife sensitive to disturbance or who use sound to communicate. " (Traffic in Richmond Park: The way forward, https://www.royalparks.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/41793/traffic_in_richmond_park.pdf) . Despite all this, very little has been done to limit traffic in the Park, despite (as I said earlier) its being an NNR, an SSSI and a SAC. And yet many people heedlessly advocate no change: yet another example of the selfishness that is ruining our environment. |