Forum Topic

Richmond Town Centre Survey

An interesting survey conducted on Richmond Town Centre. Turns out I'm not the only one to have spotted the number one challenge to its attractiveness. And yet more confirmation that drivers are the minority visiting shops and restaurants. https://www.richmond.gov.uk/media/nfzl3myy/we_made_that_richmond_engagement_report.pdf
Car-free cities klaxon! Let's see how the Council reacts when it draws up its plans to improve Richmond. 

Paul Campbell ● 382d24 Comments

I expect many people in Kensington & Chelsea are spending more time working out in the country or out of the country because they can afford more than one home and it is easier to work from home.  Isn't there a much lower ratio of people per area in K&C and isn't it the richest London Borough?

Philippa Bond ● 370d

It's the same complaint everywhere about shops closing.  People now shop online - that is if they are shopping for things other than food and necessities which supermarkets sell.  It isn't just Chiswick or Richmond or Putney.

Philippa Bond ● 372d

And now we hear that more restaurants are packing up in Kensington and Chelsea and coming to wonderful Richmond where business is booming and there is loads of parking and no ridiculous cycle lanes. What a pleasure!

Steve Taylor ● 373d

And in the meantime more businesses in Chiswick go bust due to the traffic chaos caused by the dangerous and unused cycle lanes.

Steve Taylor ● 378d

Yes, why rip the heart out of the place,

Janice Evans ● 378d

"Maybe the residents like the thrill of walking on their cosy, narrow, town centre pavements, compared with the excessively wide, windswept, cycle infested ones we have in Chiswick.  And perhaps they enjoy their tight network of narrow shopping streets that they can cross at will through a single line of slow moving traffic"Yep - Peter Evans has it sussed! Spot on.

Steve Taylor ● 379d

Do we think people are beginning to realise. Chiswick has been ruined. Shops closing. Crime iof every kind on a daily basis. The hated cycle lane, dangerous floating bus stops. Traffic jams and the cycle lobby running the Council, removing our parking places, what joy is there in W4?  I read recently but it may be old news,” persons unknown,  persuaded someone to change the bus stop name to Old Market Place but no such place exists because they failed in that trick oops

Maggie Dodge ● 379d

It's interesting that Richmond is so happy.  Maybe the residents like the thrill of walking on their cosy, narrow, town centre pavements, compared with the excessively wide, windswept, cycle infested ones we have in Chiswick.  And perhaps they enjoy their tight network of narrow shopping streets that they can cross at will through a single line of slow moving traffic, compared with the frighteningly spacious expanse of Chiswick High Road, with its free-flowing segregated lanes and incomprehensible traffic lights!  Or maybe there are other things about Richmond that generate their happiness!

Peter Evans ● 379d

If they mess about with the roads, or parking, they’ll  kill it off completely. The idiots who run the asylum think - too many cars, shut a road off that’ll sort it !

Maggie Dodge ● 379d

I used to love Richmond, my number one spot in London. Then the high street started disappearing..Habitat, HMV, bld societies etc etc.At least the swans havent deserted the town.. yet.

Anna Kirkpatrick ● 379d

“ the findings are about the commercial centre which I would roughly define as the stretch between the station and the bridge which I feel could do with a rethink.” I didn’t read it as the commercial area, I saw it as the residential area where David Attenborough et el live. Don’t see how one could define the commercial area as the ‘happiest’ town in the UK. I have never found the planes over Richmond to be a problem at all. And the flight path is staggered anyway.  There is no ways you would have to pause a conversation on Richmond Green when a plane flies over. That’s just nonsense.

Steve Taylor ● 380d

Steve, I agree Richmond is a great place to live. No doubt.It is important to remember the findings are about the commercial centre which I would roughly define as the stretch between the station and the bridge which I feel could do with a rethink. The small traffic free area just off the main drag is great if only this could be extended to cover a meaningful area.

Adrian Irving ● 380d

I fully agree about the aircraft noise. The aircraft are low as well.

Nicholas Beard ● 380d

Aircraft noise definitely a lot worse in Richmond- chose Chiswick over Richmond purely on the basis that a house we saw by Richmond green was directly under a flight path and we couldn’t hear the estate agent every time a plane flew over. Not sure why it’s voted happiest place to live when aircraft noise has been researched to affect mental health and quality of life.

Lee Harding ● 381d

Steve I never said Chiswick was any better. I don’t like Chiswick but I‘be never found the aircraft a problem, but always noticed them in Richmond 🤷‍♀️

Maggie Dodge ● 381d

>Car-free cities klaxon!Looks like Richmond will lose that status pretty soon then. The klaxons are there.

Russell Pearson ● 381d

“I always remember wondering why you’d spend millions on a house on Richmond Green with all tfe aircraft overhead”The aircraft are a bit higher than when they fly over Chiswick but the main answer to your question is that it’s the happiest place in the UK to live. Hence it is the place where many Hollywood A Listers have their London homes. I have never had a problem with traffic except when there are road works. And of course during the school run but generally the traffic runs smoothly and is stress free. On the odd occasion I have ventured into Chiswick it’s been a nightmare. The last time I had to venture into Chiswick I decided to try a bus and it was disgusting! The smell of urine was overpowering, not to mention people coughing and spluttering and talking on their phones at the top of their voices! Terrible!

Steve Taylor ● 381d

I always remember wondering why you’d spend millions on a house on Richmond Green with all tfe aircraft overhead

Maggie Dodge ● 381d

It has one main road in from Kew and Petersham. It was laways almost gridlocked and has been for the fifty years that I have been driving through it. It was slow even back in the 1970's when I used to take my mother to the Peter Robinson/ Dickens and Jones department store.

N V Brooks ● 381d

I was very disappointed on my last visit it was far too choked with cars. It used to be far more pleasant to walk around.

Philippa Bond ● 381d

https://www.richmond.gov.uk/news/news_december_2023/richmond_ranked_happiest_place_to_live#:~:text=In%20a%20momentous%20achievement%20for,at%20Home%22%20index%20by%20Rightmove.

Steve Taylor ● 381d

Great access on the North London line for me. Wouldn’t dream of driving as shopping wasn’t likely to be heavy.l and go for the river etc as much as anything

Maggie Dodge ● 382d

Richmond is rather stuck in the middle with regard to travel by train. Few would travel from Kingston to Richmond as the retail and leisure offer in Kingston is far better. Equally, as we often hear about the supposedly superior retail offer in Chiswick (I remain unconvinced)  why would one travel to Richmond? I can understand only 9% making the journey by car. Parking isn't great and my own journeys are 'in transit'  to see friends in Petersham and Ham.

N V Brooks ● 382d

As I have said in the past the main shopping stretch needs a careful rethink.Pavements too narrow and congested traffic which must be mainly passing through if only 9% travel by car to the town as a destination.The train at only 6% seems very low particularly as there is a good service right to the centre.

Adrian Irving ● 382d