Category Archives: Activities

Homebase, Manor Road – development to go ahead

Robert Jenrick, Secretary of State for Housing, has just declined to call in the development plans for the Homebase site in Manor Road. This means that the Mayor of London’s decision in October to approve the application stands and that the development will proceed, subject to the developer Avanton agreeing s106 terms with Richmond Council and the GLA securing the affordable homes and other contributions to make the development acceptable in planning terms.

Richmond Council despite expressing “extreme disappointment” at Mr Jenrick’s decision, has apparently decided not to seek a judicial review of the Mayor’s decision so unless a third party does so the development will proceed.

The development approved by the Mayor is for 453 new residential units in five blocks ranging from four to eleven storeys. This contrasts with the scheme which Richmond Council rejected in July 2019 which proposed 385 homes with buildings of four to nine storeys. The Richmond Local Plan has a maximum of six storeys!

The pictures show the scale of the proposed buildings compared with the current setting.

Photo mockup of Manor Road Development

Drawing of Manor Road Development indicating scale

Ironically the letter from the Ministry of Housing says: “The Government is committed to give more power to councils and communities to make their own decisions on planning issues, and believes planning decisions should be made at the local level wherever possible.”

The Mayor of London and the Government have ignored over 700 objections to the original plan rejected by Richmond Council. After the Mayor took over the role of planning authority in place of Richmond Council, the plans were further revised to increase density and height of the buildings. Thus the original objections which were principally about the effect on the immediate community, that the scale of development was over development of the site and would change the nature of the area and that the local amenities, especially transport, would be inadequate for the number of residential units applied even more to the revised plans but all were rejected. In addition the provisions of Richmond’s Local Plan have been overridden.

In this case local appears to mean regional!

A final point is that this development may set a precedent for other applications for buildings in excess of six storeys. Less “rus” in “urbe”.

Homebase – update

Since our last update the Council met on Tuesday 26 January and passed the following resolution which was proposed by Cllr Fleming (South Richmond), seconded by Cllr Baldwin (North Richmond), and received unanimous approval from councillors:

“The Council expresses its disappointment that the Secretary of State has not called in the Homebase application which the Mayor has resolved to approve though it would damage the character of the area. It recognises the strong feelings of residents on the subject and will continue to explore with them and their Ward Councillors the implications of the application and the scope for amelioration or challenge.”

It is heartening that this was a cross-party resolution reflecting the approach of Richmond Councillors and we look forward to working with them and local residents. It would seem that the Council has been advised that a successful judicial review of Mayor Khan’s decision is unlikely and that it would not be an appropriate use of resources to pursue one.

There remain issues about the weight the Mayor attached to the site’s good transport connectivity as part of his reasons for approving the development despite this not being so. For example, the hearing report claimed that North Sheen is served by 8 trains per hour to Waterloo despite 4 of them going away from Waterloo on the loop. Likewise, no account was taken of the changes announced by TfL in June 2020 reducing the bus services. Stephen Speak raised this point at the Council meeting and we hope the officers will consider the issue.

Heathrow’s expansion is lawful says the Supreme Court … but it is still a Pipe Dream

From the Richmond Heathrow Campaign,
Wednesday 16th December 2020:

The Supreme Court today upheld Heathrow’s appeal and concluded that the Transport Secretary was entitled in 2018 to ignore the UK’s climate change commitments under the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change and that the decision to progress Heathrow’s expansion to the planning stage is lawful.

There were always major gaps in the arguments for Heathrow’s third runway and the world has changed so much since 2018, not least because of Covid-19. Climate change is the greatest risk to aviation growth and last week the Climate Change Committee’s 6th Carbon Budget emphasised no net increase in UK airport capacity and that an increase at one airport means a reduction elsewhere – in other words levelling down the regions. Bio-fuels and carbon removal from the atmosphere are only partial solutions and demand will have to be constrained to achieve aviation’s net zero carbon.

If Heathrow still wants a 3rd runway it will have to restart the already delayed planning process with diminishing chance of success. The pandemic has highlighted Heathrow’s lack of financial resilience and the improbability of raising finance for a very expensive expansion in the face of growth constrained by climate risk. Heathrow should not waste billions of pounds on ill-judged expansion. Shareholders are unlikely to want to dilute a steady cash flow with the poor return from risky expansion without tax payer support.

Heathrow should give up its impossible ambition and focus on making Heathrow a better airport and re-enforcing London as the best served city in the world with its five airports.

Better surface access, more passengers per flight and replacement of international-to-international transfer passengers with UK passengers would be a good start. Reducing carbon, air pollution and noise, including no night flights, are crucial. It would be of great benefit to the UK generally for the recovery and subsequent expansion of air traffic to be shared across UK airports, instead of concentrated at Heathrow, thereby levelling up regional jobs and economies and better serving demand and world-wide access.

More than two million people, including Richmond and Kew residents, are exposed to Heathrow’s aircraft noise and attendant health risk but worse still they have experienced the threat of expansion for over a decade. Heathrow and the government should abandon a further decade of expansion and flight path uncertainty and focus on reducing existing noise misery. Residents now know how much better life can be without aircraft noise.

One certainty is the opposition to Heathrow’s expansion from community groups, NGOs and local councils is stronger today than ever with the environment playing a much bigger part in society’s goals. Richmond Heathrow Campaign will continue to ensure that Heathrow’s expansion remains a pipe dream.

Richmond Heathrow Campaign represents three amenity groups in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames: The Richmond Society, The Friends of Richmond Green, and the Kew Society, which together have over 2000 members.

Jason Debney: Rewilding Arcadia

Jason Debney, Co-ordinator, Thames Landscape Strategy returned to The Richmond Society on Thursday 12 November 2020 to speak about how a multi-year project is setting out to help the river reclaim its floodplain in a managed and sustainable way, restoring the natural processes and habitats that once governed life along the Thames.

Richmond Society Heritage Walks 2020

Inevitably our planned series of Summer Season Heritage Walks, our forty-first series, scheduled for alternate Wednesday evenings through May, June and July had to be postponed due to Government restrictions on public gatherings from March onwards.

However, with a sense of optimism and mindful of the need to implement necessary social distancing and other measures, we planned a series of three walks on alternate Wednesday evenings through September under the titles ‘Celebrating Richmond Bridge and Riverside’, ‘Celebrating The Terrace Gardens and The Hill’ and ‘Celebrating The Green and Richmond Palace’ – each limited to twenty, pre-booked places.

Much to our surprise and delight, the three, planned walks were vastly oversubscribed, and led to our doubling each of the walks, planning a series of six walks between 2nd September and 7th October. Our walks along the riverside between Old Palace Lane and Petersham Meadows on the evenings of the 2nd and 9th September were most successful, saving for the now inevitable conflicts with the ever increasing number of cyclists using the towing path between Water Lane and the Meadows, even in the early evenings. In accordance with long-established custom, each walk finished with an adjournment to the spacious Rose of York on the Petersham Road and lively conversation until closing time.

Very sadly however, the coming into effect of the Government’s more restrictive Regulations on Monday 14th September, two days before our third scheduled walk; their lack of clarity and lack of consistency with the official Guidance only published the previous Friday; and the Committee’s concern not to place members at undue risk, led to our having to disappoint the eighty or more members who had booked for the last four walks in the series by bringing the series to a premature end.

We very much hope that by next summer we will be able to reinstate the summer series of walks free of the increasingly complex and ambiguous restrictions under which we presently live.

Paul Velluet and Adam Harrison

The Richmond Society urges Mayor of London to refuse the latest Homebase, Manor Road proposals

The Richmond Society and The Kew Society jointly submitted a statement of reasons objecting most strongly to the latest proposals to develop the Homebase site in Manor Road.

The two Societies’ joint submission in advance of a GLA hearing sched-uled for 1 October can be read by clicking the image or this link.

The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government has issued a holding direction to the Mayor of London confirming that he will call in the application if the Mayor approves the application.

Homebase Site, Manor Road: new GLA consultation – update

The Richmond Society has formally objected to the latest proposals for the Homebase site as part of the consultation closing on 3 September. After Richmond Council refused the application (to which the RS also objected) the Mayor of London exercised his powers to take over as the planning authority and indicated that more affordable housing was required. The current proposals are the second version submitted by the developer to meet that objective.

A public hearing is set for 1 October and the RS and Kew Society are proposing a joint submission given that we are likely to be allowed 5 minutes.

RS’s objections remain the same as originally expressed: over-development of the site because of density, excessive height and pressure on services which already cannot cope in the form of utilities (old gas and water pipes), a reduced bus service round Manor Circus resulting from TfL implementing its proposals to be done in December 2020 and an inadequate train station at North Sheen.Details of the current proposals are available in this press release on Richmond Council’s website. The public consultation runs from 6 August to 3 September 2020 and full details are available on this page on the GLA website.

Copies of the latest proposals are available to view on this page on the GLA website

The texts of the RS’s objections are set out below:

“I write on behalf of the Richmond Society with 1300 members to object to the latest revisions to the Application which are the subject of the current consultation. The proposed changes do nothing to alleviate our original concerns in our objection of 11 May 2019– indeed the problems are exacerbated by the increased height and density proposed with resulting pressure on local services.

The new proposals envisage increasing the number or residential units by 69 to 453 – even greater density.

One block will be 11 storeys, one 10 and two 8 each (compared with the original proposal of 3 blocks of nine storeys each) with additional unspecified height for plant. The new proposals would mean towers nearly double the maximum of six storeys envisaged under the Local Plan. The area surrounding the Homebase site comprises low rise buildings so the addition of the proposed four towers will change the character of the area significantly and result in the site being overdeveloped.

The increased density will put further pressure on local services and amenities just after TfL announced in June 2020 that it will implement changes on which it consulted. These will result in fewer buses in the Manor Road vicinity when the new plans envisage more than 1000 extra residents: surely a lack of a coherent plan. This is quite apart from the financial predicament of TfL and the uncertainty surrounding current rail franchises which threaten the current provision of services.

A development of this size will put additional pressure on the current infrastructure. Water supply here is in poor condition with many of our chalk streams being drained; there are inadequate sewage treatment facilities (the number of CSO spills is appalling); cold water mains, and old gas pipes are unable to cope with existing demands. Indeed in January a large part of central Richmond was without gas for several weeks when an old water pipe burst next to an old gas pipe.

May 2019 objection: The Richmond Society supports the principle of a residential led mixed use scheme for this site and its contribution to the borough’s affordable housing stock. However, while we recognise the high quality architectural design, we are concerned that the density of development and its consequent height and mass results in the site being overdeveloped. In particular, three buildings of nine storeys (plus the extra unspecified height for plant) is significantly taller than the six storeys envisaged under the Local Plan as the maximum for this location. Furthermore, we understand that the Council has required a car free development for the site, but this suitability must be re-confirmed before a planning consent can be given because TfL’s plans to reduce bus services to Manor Circus. If the bus service cuts are implemented, then it would cause the site’s PTAL (Public Transport Accessibility Level) to fall below 5 – i.e. below the Council’s accepted threshold. Residents have also questioned whether the applicant’s parking stress survey is realistic and this should be verified by reference to the Council’s parking surveys commissioned by the Highways Department for CPZ proposals in 2015. Finally, there is conflicting information in the documentation regarding the site’s red line boundary and it is unclear whether the bus terminus requires s106 protection. That position should be explicitly confirmed noting that The Richmond Society supports improvements to the bus, rail and cycle facilities locally”

Homebase Site, Manor Road: new GLA consultation

The Mayor of London is running a public consultation on the proposed development of the Homebase site at Manor Road in Richmond..

Last year, Richmond Council’s Planning Committee refused an application for the redevelopment of the Manor Road site currently occupied by Homebase. There had been 717 objections to the application.

The council’s refusal was based on several grounds, including:

the design and scale being visually intrusive, dominant and overwhelming
failure to deliver maximum reasonable amount of affordable housing
the quality of the proposed accommodation
the impact on surrounding properties

The Mayor of London subsequently called in the planning application and is now running a public consultation with a view to a public hearing later in the year, provisionally scheduled for Thursday 1 October.

Details of the current proposals are available in this press release on Richmond Council’s website. The public consultation runs from 6 August to 3 September 2020 and full details are available on this page on the GLA website.

The Richmond Society will be submitting its comments on the latest amendments made to the application by the developers, Avanton. Copies of these documents are available to view on this page on the the GLA website. Comments should be sent by email to the Greater London Authority at ManorRoad@london.gov.uk by 3 September 2020.

Infrastructure Survey 2020 – Report

Overview

The Richmond Society sought feedback around several current infrastructure concerns using a survey on the Society’s web site. The survey ran for three weeks from June 1 to June 21 and consisted of 10 questions with respondents having a free text response. Its initial promotion was via a Chairman’s email to members followed by periodic mentions using our social media channels.

In total 89 responses were received of which 49 were from members (55%) and 40 from non-members (45%). Some of those non-members joined the Society immediately after completing the survey.

Responses were anonymised before evaluating how the answers addressed the specific theme(s) pre-determined as underlying each question. This evaluation was confirmed using a panel of three Trustees members and two sub-committee members. The anonymisation of responses coupled with a panel review helped to reduce personal preferences being applied to the interpretation of responses.

The aim of the survey was to seek broad reactions and, because the methods and small sample size do not offer statistical assurance, the analysis is presented only with a commentary. The detailed results will however be used to guide the Society’s Executive Committee when forming policy and responding to council consultations.

Results

Question 1

Please comment as a motorist, cyclist or pedestrian about the effectiveness of the social distancing measures currently in place and any problems you have encountered with them.

Objective

To establish whether respondents felt the council’s temporary COVID-19 measures had been effective.

Comments

There was the entire spectrum of responses ranging from “fantastic” to “not working” but, on balance, the views were positive with more than half of members who answered the question supporting the measures. Negative comments tended to suggest that people’s individual experiences might be affected by how seriously other people that they encountered were (or were not) applying the social distancing guidelines.

Several people commented that the one-way arrangement on Richmond Bridge was often not followed and a few cyclists observed that the barriers on George Street had forced them into the traffic stream in a dangerous way.

Question 2

To what extent would you support pavement widening/road narrowing on George Street once social distancing is no longer expected? How might your views change if traffic volumes are not sufficiently reduced and the measures led to more congestion in the town, or displacement to Richmond Green and/or residential areas around Richmond Hill? Do you have suggestions for managing this?

Objective

To gauge the level of interest in wider pavements and less traffic through the town.

Comments

If wider pavements carried no repercussions for traffic, we would expect most people to prefer more space to walk. If a respondent qualified their support with concerns about the impact for traffic displacement and/or increased congestion, they were recorded as preferring to retain the pre-COVID-19 situation.

After applying this criterion, the majority view was opposed to pavement widening due to the concerns about the traffic repercussions. A few people felt that creating a more difficult passage for vehicles through the town might reduce traffic volumes and bring improved air quality while others noted that a single traffic lane could cause traffic hold ups behind buses at their stops.

The council is evaluating different methods for reducing the overall traffic volume passing through George Street. This will seek to encourage vehicles to bypass the town on alternative routes with cameras used to enforce restrictions on certain types of town centre traffic. Those restrictions are not published but may initially be based on levels of exhaust emissions.

As a stakeholder member of the council’s Town Centre Advisory Group (“TCAG”) the Richmond Society has not opposed traffic reduction measures for the town provided traffic is not simply displaced somewhere else and provided business servicing requirements are accommodated. If the planned measures to reduce traffic prove successful and traffic volumes fall significantly, then some people who gave their qualified support for wider pavements are likely to become outright supporters.

Question 3

Should controls be introduced that would require vehicles to give way to pedestrians wherever they choose to cross George Street? If not, do you think additional crossing points are needed and where should they be located?

Objective

To assess the extent of concern about the perceived ease of crossing and whether this was considered enough of a problem to endorse any pedestrianisation initiatives.

Comments

Over half of respondents did not indicate problems crossing between shops on each side of the road wherever they wished. Partly this is because there are sufficient gaps created in the traffic flow due to it being “pulsed” down George Street thanks to the formal crossing outside House of Fraser. There were several comments opposing anything that would require more street clutter and a number along the lines of “leave it alone”.

A couple of people specifically highlighted the dangers crossing Eton Street at The Square. The Society has long flagged this location as a high priority for attention and more recently has supported ideas from the council’s consultants for a road treatment and new layout that would indicate this is shared space where vehicles have a lower priority relative to pedestrians.

Question 4

Do you have suggestions for relieving pavement overcrowding (most especially around the bus stops near Waterloo Place and outside RBS)?

Objective

Free form answer to see what suggestions materialise. Common themes were grouped together.

Comments

Nearly 40% of respondents either did not answer this question, or offered no suggestions. Of those who did give a view, most members suggested moving the bus stops while most non-members suggested wider pavements.

Neither solution is straightforward because TfL sets minimum and maximum distances between bus stops which limits the flexibility for moving them and widening the pavement is awkward where the road width is constrained. However, a few suggestions about moving the Waterloo Place stop to Eton Street might be achievable and remain within the distance limitations if this can be safely included into a redesign of The Square.

Perhaps the most practical suggestion as suggested by three members would be to mark up the pavement with hatching and/or a suitable message e.g. “don’t wait here” or “keep clear”. Coupled with the removal of street clutter and some A’ boards this could provide an easy win.

Question 5

Do you think the right amount of space has been allocated for waiting taxis? If not, should there be more or less space? Are additional taxi ranks needed anywhere else in the town?

Objective

To assess the strength of feeling behind frequent complaints about the space given over to taxi ranks.

Comments

Many people did not answer this question or did not have a view but, of those who gave a view, a small majority was unhappy with the current arrangements and there was no support for increasing the space given over to taxis. Some people commented that formal taxi ranks seem anachronistic in the days of Uber.

Question 6

Does the balance between pedestrians and cyclists on the towpath feel about right? If not how and where should priorities be changed?

Objective

To ascertain the imperative for change given comments about cyclists increased use of the towpath.

Comments

Virtually all respondents answered this question which clearly struck a chord. People tended to show a preference for either the cycling or walking viewpoint with many comments related to behaviours which were often forthrightly expressed.

A strong majority of those who gave a view indicated concerns with the balance of interests between pedestrians and cyclists using the towpath. Complaints were levelled by both cyclists and pedestrians with evident frustration at the current situation expressed by both groups.

Several respondents commented that co-existence on the towpath worked acceptably when cyclists adopted an appropriately low speed in the presence of walkers and there was mutual respect and courtesy. A few people pointed out that the situation was more difficult during lockdown due to cyclists being barred from Richmond Park. Exercising cyclists were therefore having to compete for space with recreational and family cycling groups and with more walkers too.

The tow path is narrow in many places and a few cyclists commented on the danger arising from dogs, while pedestrians referred to being “bullied” and “frightened” by aggressive and rude cyclists (and the risk of injury to their dogs). There were some calls for dedicated cycle lanes and several suggestions that pedestrians should be asked to keep to one side or the other of the path. This latter idea might help to reduce conflict if walkers predictably moved over to the same side of the path until a cyclist has passed and it could allow cyclists to take a safe position earlier instead of trying to negotiate a route through pedestrian groups.

While there were many requests for emphasising pedestrian priority over cyclists, someone did point out that actions tended to be directed AGAINST cyclists and rarely do they seek to remind pedestrians of the need to exercise caution in shared spaces.

After this survey had closed, a petition was started on July 1 asking the council to erect “cyclists go slow shared path” blue signs along the Richmond to Teddington Towpath. The Richmond Society is not in favour of adding signage to the towpath itself, but signage at the entry points to the towpath might be acceptable. The ownership of the towpath is unclear in several stretches and, while it has the status of a public footpath throughout its length, cycling on a footpath without the owner’s consent is not permitted. The council has in the past therefore not wanted to erect signage that could appear to condone cycling where it does not have authority and potentially also give it a liability for maintenance and safety.

Question 7

A secure cycle parking hub is due to be installed in the car park at Richmond Station with significant benefits for cyclists who also commute by train. Given that George Street is one way, are the cycle routes to and from the station adequate? Would you support cycling contraflows – for example on King Street, Duke Street, Richmond Green, or Clarence Street, to enhance connectivity of the town’s cycle network? What measures would you expect to enable these contraflows to operate safely?

Objective

(a) To understand how people perceive the current provision of cycle routes (with a particular interest in the issues for cyclists wanting to travel west from the station).
(b) To collect views about cyclist contraflows given that the council is considering installing these to facilitate connections with Richmond Green and a possible contraflow through The Green. Enabling connections to Richmond Green avoids the need for cyclists to follow the one-way system up Eton Street and it might mitigate against cyclists adopting the George Street pavements as the alternative.

Comments

Nearly half of respondents did not answer the first part of the question about the adequacy of cycle routes to and from the station. Those who did respond supported better provision.

The second part of the question to collect views in response to the council’s emerging ideas for cyclist contraflows elicited more responses than the first part. Among all those who gave an opinion most were opposed to contraflows. A concern commonly expressed related to the inherent danger for both cyclists and pedestrians particularly when narrow road widths reduce the margin for accomodating human error.

Question 8

Do you think the provision of segregated cycle lanes around the town is too little, too much or about right? Would you be willing to see on-street vehicle parking reduced to release road space?

Objective

(a) Segregated cycle facilities in the town are extremely limited and this question seeks to capture perceptions around the standard of provision.
(b) Given that most roads around Richmond are relatively narrow the second part of the question seeks to understand whether respondents are prepared to trade off the provision of segregated cycle facilities with the loss of roadside parking.

Comments

The views for and against having more segregated cycle facilities were mixed, with members who gave a view opposed.

People largely did not respond to second part of the question but, of those who did, the loss of parking to install segregated cycling facilities was accepted. Members who tend to visit the town on foot might be less concerned about the loss of some parking.

Question 9

The Council has suggested locating lockable on-street bicycle parking units on the highway at four places around the town. Up to six spaces inside the locker could be rented by cyclists who do not have secure parking at home. The locker itself will use less than one car parking bay. What are your views about the concept and its design?

Objective

(a) To ascertain support for the principle of having on-street secure parking for bicycles.
(b) The council’s proposals for Bikehangars around Richmond would locate them all in conservation areas and a planning consent would therefore be expected. Residents’ views about the design are therefore of interest.

Comments

There was support for the Bikehangar as a concept, but with concerns regularly expressed about the risks of the Bikehangar attracting theft, vandalism and graffiti and some suggestions that car parks would offer a better and more secure location.

Members mainly avoided the second part of the question relating to the Bikehangar’s design but those who did give a view were deeply opposed to its utilitarian appearance. Several specifically commented that it would be an incongruous addition to the street scene around Richmond Green.

Question 10

Would you support the provision of an electric shuttle bus operating a circular route linking the station with Richmond Park via Richmond Hill? This could help residents with shopping locally and also assist visitors to Richmond Park. To what extent do you think it might ease traffic or parking congestion in Richmond? How should it be funded in the long term?

Objective

This question simply seeks to understand the level of support for an idea that has been mooted before but is not currently in active consideration. Facilitating a link into Richmond Park has gained added relevancy now that the Royal Park’s has announced plans for reducing traffic.

Comments

An electric shuttle bus was the most strongly endorsed idea in the whole survey with more than three quarters of respondents who gave an opinion supporting it. Opposition mainly arose from concerns about the extent of demand, particularly where the route might overlap with bus route 371.

Suggestions for funding a shuttle ranged from the council using parking income to provide a subsidy to a user pay as you go system.

After the survey had closed a Twickenham resident has promoted the idea to the Twittersphere where it also received positive feedback.

The council’s recent action to remove parking on Kew Road prompted some suggestions for extending the route to enable a link for visitors between Richmond Station and the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Bus route 65 does of course cover this route with reasonable frequency.

Anti-Social Behaviour in Richmond

The Richmond Society is deeply concerned at anti-social behaviour and crime in the town and surrounding area as COVID-19 lockdown measures have eased. We intend to work closely with the Council, police and others to deliver improvements.

In the meantime we urge you strongly to tell the police about further incidents. You should register incidents online at www.met.police/uk. If you seek police attendance call 101 and the police will register the call and decide the priority. If you need support right away call 999.

The Society’s Trustee responsible for the town centre, licensing, anti-social behaviour and police liaison is Peter Willan. He writes:

Richmond has always been a magnet for visitors from all over London during the summer. Now it risks being the destination of choice for visitors who, under the influence of alcohol or drugs, cluster and create disorder and intimidate, threaten and scare residents and other visitors. They fight and brawl, and violence erupts.

Urination and defecation in open spaces and close to homes has reached crisis levels. Noise and music disturbance, sometimes to 3:00 am, has escalated. ASB, disorder and crime in Richmond’s evening economy have risen seriously.

A large virtual public meeting arranged by the Council Leader, Cllr Gareth Roberts, with a presentation by the Police Borough Commander, Chief Superintendent Sally Benatar, was attended by Society members. Members of the public, including two Trustees and other members, asked questions. A video recording of the conference can be viewed here.

Pro-active intervention and deterrence by the police and the Council’s Parkguard last weekend using dispersal and other powers reduced the number of more serious incidents and the edginess that pervaded the Green, the Riverside and the Terrace and Terrace Gardens on Richmond Hill.

The re-opening of pubs, bars and restaurants this coming Saturday and the Government’s easing of licensing laws could result in Richmond’s streets and open spaces becoming one large beer garden.

We are discussing with the authorities the lack of lavatories and the prevention of the more serious incidents of crime and disorder including drugs dealing. Disruptive people must be discouraged from coming to Richmond. The supermarket supply of alcohol to under-age drinkers is also a high priority for attention.

The Society seeks a much-needed update of the Council’s 2011 observational study of Richmond’s evening economy. We are also reviewing the application of legal powers of dispersion and Public Space Protection Orders. We are discussing with the authorities fixed and mobile CCTV coverage, and signage informing people of ASB laws and penalties.

We will continue to update you and welcome your observations about any part of the town and its surrounds that need attention. Please send any comments to us at www.richmondsociety.org.uk/contact.

Janet Locke: funeral service on 9th June

Janet’s funeral was held on Tuesday 9th June at 3:30pm. Janet’s son, Chris Locke, presented the eulogy. The Order of Service is available at this link.

Eulogy

My mother was born in Leicester on May 16 1928, the only child of Monty and Nellie Furney. Janet’s father was a tailor, her mother a milliner and seamstress. By 1928 Monty had become a regional inspector for menswear chain Burton’s, which meant a series of moves around the country as his postings changed. This peripatetic existence, with her father often away, I think contributed greatly to my mother’s self-reliance and independence throughout her life.

Much of her early childhood was spent in Cambridge, but by the war the family had moved to Buckhurst Hill on the Essex fringes of London. Here her interest in architecture was sparked when a local builder won the pools and bought a plot of land to develop in the fields at the end of their road.

She was fascinated by the plans and resolved to become an architect, a rare career then for a woman, but she was determined. Monty went to see the headmistress, Miss Essame, of her boarding school, Queenswood near Hatfield, and was directed for advice to the head’s brother, who worked for the Royal Institute of British Architects.

She enrolled in the Bartlett School of Architecture at the end of the war, one of only five or six women in her academic year, developing that passion for beauty and against ugliness that animates William Blake’s Jerusalem, which we will sing later. In 1950 she was chosen by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings as one of four Lethaby Scholars to study conservation work. At the SPAB building in Great Ormond Street she met Peter Locke, a fellow Scholar who had studied at Brixton School of Building. They were introduced by the SPAB’s secretary, Monica Dance, who when they fell in love and got engaged had to ride a storm of protest that she had turned the Scholarship into a matrimonial agency by admitting females.

They married in 1952, despite her parents’ disapproval who refused to attend. Typically my mother stuck to her guns and her parents were later won round. It was a long and happy marriage, lasting more than 60 years before Peter’s death in 2012. Both practised as architects, but Janet halted in 1957 for my birth in that year and that of Susan in 1959 (Sue died in 1993, leaving two grandchildren, Tom – who died in 2015 – and Katie, who were a great joy to Janet and Peter).

Janet’s early married life with Peter was in a garret in St John’s Wood, in a top-floor room shared with a hamster called Humphrey who tended to live in the sofa and next to a boiler they nicknamed Krakatoa. Poor as they were, they still would manage the occasional treat of a night at the theatre, including one night when they had battled through a pea-souper to their seats in the gods to find the inside of the theatre full of fog. Luckily a distant voice summoned them down to the front stalls to join the other dozen people who had made it as that night’s audience. Revues were a particular favourite, which is why we will hear both Flanders and Swann and Joyce Grenfell later.

In the mid-Fifties they moved to Blackheath, to a rented flat where I and Sue appeared. This was the period when Peter had just begun working with Donald Insall as the two of them started their architectural practice specialising in the renovation they had first learned on the Lethaby Scholarship. For his work my father bought a succession of cheap ancient cars – I remember a Rover with a running board and a pre-war Austin Seven – underneath which he would spend most of the weekend doing repairs. No wonder Genevieve, the Fifties movie about the London to Brighton veteran car rally, was a film dear to them. We shall hear the theme from that later too.

Through all this, as we moved in 1962, buying a garden flat on the other side of Blackheath, my mother ran the household with endless cheer and resourcefulness. She was always ready, no matter how busy, to answer my childish questions. The only occasion she failed was when I held up a bottle of squash and asked whether “dilute to taste” meant delightful. Distracted by washing up she replied “Yes darling”. She was mortified when I recalled this years later.
Much more characteristic was when in 1967 I returned from primary school with the news that three of my class would be spectators as the Queen knighted Francis Chichester at the Royal Naval College. They would be chosen on a test of knowledge about his round-the-world voyage. I of course was hellbent on winning but knew nothing of Gipsy Moth IV and its solo skipper.
My mother must then have spent the whole of the next day in a public library because that night, the eve of the quiz, she coached me so thoroughly that I sailed through and was duly to be seen on TV sitting cross-legged in the front row of all the Greenwich tinies watching the investiture.
My mother returned to practice once we children were old enough, working for a local architect and then advising on planning applications for Lewisham council.

In 1978 they moved to Lewisham, buying and renovating a large mid-Victorian house there. It spoke to Peter’s regard for her as the better architect that he decided she should be in charge of the plans while he acted as general contractor.

In 1985 they moved to Richmond, first to a two-floor flat in Church Road and then in 1994 to a cottage in Albany Passage. They threw themselves into Richmond life, making many new friends and becoming stalwarts of the Richmond Society, of which my mother was vice-chair and served on the committees vetting planning applications and judging the annual building awards. They also fulfilled a lifelong love of travel as Peter eased into retirement.

After Peter’s death in 2012 Janet was determined to live an independent life, travelling solo abroad and continuing to absorb herself in matters cultural, historical and architectural. In 2017 however she decided, with typical practicality, that it was time to go into a care home, and the following year she moved into Lynde House in Twickenham, where she passed her remaining time amid great comfort and kindness.

I have received so many wonderful tributes, both from those in this room and those prevented from attending today. They recall Janet’s “architecturally perfect cakes, precise hairdos and her tinkling chandelier laugh”, “her unfailing kindness, generosity of spirit and interest in others”, her enthusiasm, hospitality and positivity and much, much more. Above all they concur, as the nurse who broke the news to me said, that she was “such a lovely woman”.

Go well, mother, and go with all our love.

A further short appreciation by Paul Velluet of Janet’s life and her work for The Richmond Society can be found here.