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Police close Pembroke Lodge car park as Richmond Park rally draws huge crowd (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)
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Police close Pembroke Lodge car park as Richmond Park rally draws huge crowd
6:00pm Saturday 30th January 2010
Hundreds of campaigners today braved the cold by gathering in Richmond Park to protest against parking charges.
The demonstration sent a clear message to Culture Minister Margaret Hodge, as the crowd shouted in unison: "Keep our parks free."
The huge turnout forced police officers to close off a packed Pembroke Lodge car park - meaning many passionate protestors had to find alternative parking and walk to join the rally.
Stewards claimed the turnout could have been close to 1,000.
Although campaigners were told by officials on arrival that they were not allowed to wave banners or placards, many ignored the request.
It was a clear sign of defiance against the Government's decision to allow Royal Parks to charge up to £1 an hour to park in Richmond and Bushy parks.
Politicians addressed the masses in front of a giant banner, on which demonstrators signed their names in support of the protest. It is to be taken to Downing Street at a later date to drum home the message that the charges are not popular.
Rally organiser and parliamentary candidate for Richmond Park, Zac Goldsmith, said: "I think the parking chaos that we have caused here today is just a fraction of what is to come.
"There are so many people here today - and there are still more coming. It proves what an incredible misjudgement the parks’ authority has made.
"Richmond Park, and Bushy Park as well, is an oasis in this capital. The one thing that will change that is the presence of parking wardens."
Richmond Park MP Susan Kramer and Putney MP Justine Greening said they had met Margaret Hodge on more than one occasion to press home the case for not introducing charges in the parks.
Ms Kramer said: “She is a person who seems to know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
She said she found it “absolutely appalling” that people could be charged to come and relax and enjoy the park.
And she added that she and Twickenham MP Vince Cable would use every power they had to get the charges overturned and urged people to write to Ms Hodge opposing the charges.
Dr Cable, whose constituency includes Bushy Park, was critical of the Royal Parks describing it is an "arrogant unelected quango". He said: "It is not just that it is breaching a principle but it completely rejected any practical alternatives.
“They took absolutely no notice of people’s views.”
“This battle is not over.”
He said the parking charges could still be stopped because they did not yet have parliamentary approval and because opposition parties were “absolutely committed to repealing this”.
He added: “If you keep up the pressure and we keep up the pressure this ridiculous measure can be stopped.”
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Your Say YourRichmond
nanette, ealing says...
6:56pm Sat 30 Jan 10
MeganN, Kingston says...
8:07pm Sat 30 Jan 10
Julie Hill, says...
8:20pm Sat 30 Jan 10
The rally was a great success, good speeches from Vince Cable, Susan Kramer, Justine Greening, Zac Goldsmith and Pieter Murporgo, (The Friends of Bushy Park), who also highlighted the poor public transport options in Teddington, with only one bus an hour at weekends.
As Nanette and so many others have said, there are numerous reasons why so many people HAVE to drive to the parks and the huge number of DOGS at the Rally bears this out.
KEEP OUR PARKS FREE !
jeremyhm, twickenham says...
10:18pm Sat 30 Jan 10
Sanity99, Twickenham says...
11:57pm Sat 30 Jan 10
The only good thing about the car parks is that the peasants stay near them to avoid getting lost.
marie33, Kingston says...
2:19am Sun 31 Jan 10
twoquid, says...
3:51am Sun 31 Jan 10
marie33 wrote:Agreed. We bring our dogs here daily and until today's rally, were sad about proposed charges, but not entirely surprised. It is London, it's big, it's beautiful and it needs upkeep.
Nanette, what do you mean, without a carpark?? No-one has said anything about closing the carparks! What people are moaning about is being asked to pay a couple of pounds to park inside the park......which incidentally is much less then it costs to get there by public transport!
Today's crowd was truly nothing more than normal Saturday attendance on a beautiful day in Richmond Park with the exception of these two political leaders, staff, a good handful of their supporters each, and the media they drummed up for this opportunistic event.
The whole affair has changed my view and I will be writing to Margaret Hodge with a new suggestion:
Keep Richmond Park Free of political demonstrations, politicians and media! If you must charge for this, we understand. It's worth a few pounds to all of us. And if you struggle with those charges, I suggest public transport, walking or cycling to the park, or simply holding off on your £2 coffees and refreshments which overflow from the bins every day.
Let's keep out the riff-raff and make Richmond Park free of these useless, self serving politicians. Hold your drum banging protests at the gate, we don't want you.
TheParkie, Old Surrey says...
11:20am Sun 31 Jan 10
--------------------
-------------- I spoke to some Richmond people. The consensus was that it had not been well-publicised on the ground. There should have been well over 1000 attending to make the point. Internet/media exposure etc is all very well but it only gets you so far. ZG would have done well to have leafletted homes, quite possible even at only a month's notice. He has spent too much time of late soliciting media coverage at high-profile events and needs to meet... ordinary people . He may be surrounded by PR people more intent on building their own careers. He should take advice from local people, not 'Tory boys'. Equally, Susan Kramer has been too inconspicuous of late. That said, some of those attending were merely concerned about parking in their streets adjoining the park. There was complete unanimity on the prospect of the proposed charges going up by the time the car parks were actually renovated. Others felt that hearing rich Richmond folk pleading the poverty of others to avoid paying for parking was 'a sight to behold' if that isn't a contradiction in terms! Major philanthropic donations woud be very good but launching a public subscription would democratise it. It was pointed out that the "residual value" of the cars in a typical RP car park (when full) was £2-3 million i.e. it could be more than the cost of repairing all the car parks in BOTH parks. Local visitors are major stakeholders in the park: sometimes stakeholders - like shareholders - have to assert themselves by putting their hands in their pockets. And there were indeed a huge number of dogs. I saw a river of dog flowing from Sheen Gate car park up towards Pembroke Lodge.
Yaffle1, Sutton says...
12:41pm Sun 31 Jan 10
TheParkie, Old Surrey says...
2:08pm Sun 31 Jan 10
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(http://tinyurl.com/
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4854739.Opponents_wi
ll_battle_new_Richmo
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ges/ (http://tinyurl.com/
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4854547._We_will_fig
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o_go_ahead/
(http://tinyurl.com/
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4854514.Park_goers_g
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(http://tinyurl.com/
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4853670.UPDATED__Min
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Bushy_parks/
(http://tinyurl.com/
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4853234.Minister_to_
_give_go_ahead_for_p
arking_charges_/
(http://tinyurl.com/
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4848011.Parks_bosses
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(http://tinyurl.com/
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(http://tinyurl.com/
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(http://tinyurl.com/
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4812575.Minister_poi
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(http://tinyurl.com/
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alex twickenham, Twickenham says...
5:17pm Sun 31 Jan 10
I thought it was good to see Councillor Trigg, our traffic supremo appearing prominently at the rally in a photo captured by a fellow protester, sadly, all is not what it seems. Trigg claims to be in opposition to the charging scheme, yet he or the senior council officer who wrote his token protest letter to the Royal Parks Authority on Feb 18th last year used these words:
"You will I am sure be aware that the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames has led the way in linking CPZ charges to the CO2 emission of the vehicle. If charges are to be introduced then we would encourage The Royal Parks, as an environmentally conscious organisation, to adopt a similar approach and base their charges on the emission of the vehicle." Does that sound like wholehearted support for the protesters or is he some sort of fifth columnist hell bent on furthering his own cause?
It gets worse, his letter goes on to say: "...we are more than happy to meet with you to share information on how this could be done in the Royal Parks"!
As if thats not bad enough, he wrote to an opposition Councillor and residents categorically stating: "... I have never offered to assist them". Really Councillor? Explain the difference please.
With "friends" like this purporting to be part of our protest whilst toeing the Council party line, what chance do we have?
Alex
LilacHamster, Hampton says...
5:33pm Sun 31 Jan 10
I am very angry that another person (not me) who was planning to organise a motorcade for the deer was refused permission for it! Why should this anti-parking charges protest be allowed, while the one for the deer who are about to be culled was not allowed? The right to protest only seems to apply to those who meet the approval of certain people such as Zac Goldsmith.
People who care about the deer should also have an equal right to be heard!
The cull is just about to start so this weekend should have been more about the deer and their rights than about the whims of the drivers!!
TheParkie, Old Surrey says...
8:19am Mon 1 Feb 10
What I find difficult to understand is that no attempt has been made to raise the money locally either through philanthropic donations or by the more democratic public subscription. Given that the cost per head of avoiding the introduction of parking charges is a one-off £25 per elector in the Richmond Park constituency it seems something of a no-brainer to me given that that represents a handful of visits even at the current promotional proposed rates as opposed for paying ever-increasing amounts until the end of time. To put a perspective on things: every household is paying a precept of £20 per year towards the 2012 Olympics. How much free parking do you get for that?
Sadly my earlier post fell foul of the formatting in this section.
LilacHamster, Hampton says...
11:20am Mon 1 Feb 10
Nayhead, london says...
12:08pm Mon 1 Feb 10
jane40travel, Putney says...
12:25pm Mon 1 Feb 10
The way to do this is to have a ticketing system where all drivers take a ticket with the time on it when they enter the park and give it up on leaving the park and are charge if they spend less than, say, 30 minutes, in the park.
TheParkie, Old Surrey says...
2:51pm Mon 1 Feb 10
In theory the traffic problem could be resolved by shutting Kingston Gate. This would cause bona fide visitors to drive a few miles extra but would remove most of the through traffic at a stroke. But it doesn't pay for the car parks...
Sanity99, Twickenham says...
3:43pm Mon 1 Feb 10
LilacHamster, Hampton says...
1:06pm Tue 2 Feb 10
Oh yes, I have heard ALL about his "deer walks" and how he uses them to actively encourage the eating of the deer.
Studies from the USA have shown that culling actually increases birth rates in deer, but if left without a cull they self-regulate according to the space and resources available, as any other wild animal population does.
LilacHamster, Hampton says...
1:20pm Tue 2 Feb 10
Oh no, sorry I almost forgot, it's nearing election time and therefore as a politician he will support what appears to be popular and will win him more votes! Who knows what he will do if voted in if he cannot even be consistent about such matters as care for the environment? Of course he is not confused, he knows exactly what he is doing, but not all of us are so easily fooled.. and what kind of an environmentalist supports fox-hunting anyway?? Answer: Zac Goldsmith.
This is nothing but a cynical ploy on his part to catch votes, does anyone really believe any different?
bandit63, twickenham says...
11:16am Wed 3 Feb 10
I'm a big supporter of animal welfare, but am sensible and realise that sometimes not very nice things have to be done for the greater good of the rest
bandit63, twickenham says...
11:20am Wed 3 Feb 10
Phillip Taylor, Phillip Taylor says...
4:43pm Thu 4 Feb 10
Just for the record, it was a political decision by Ms Hodge which started this off so get at her and not the locals.
You have to start somewhere and that is exactly what Zac and the Tories have done. There is complete silience from Labour round here as they are equally ashamed of this silly decision. The Liberals will never be in power nationally so they don't count as you well know, Bandit.
Phillip Taylor
TheParkie, Old Surrey says...
8:06am Sat 6 Feb 10
Hundreds gather for Richmond Park rally
Hundreds gather for Richmond Park rally
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Sanity99, Twickenham says...
6:19pm Sat 30 Jan 10