Richmond Park eases cycling restrictions mid-week

Richmond Park has announced the cycling restrictions will be further relaxed during the mid-week period.

The park management has restricted cycling since March to help slow the spread of coronavirus, but the decision proved controversial.

As the UK continues to ease the pandemic lockdown the park has slowly re-opened to riders, and from June 22 cycling will be permitted on all weekdays during park opening hours.

Cycling will be allowed at any time for cyclists during the week, but on weekends the popular West London cycling spot will only be open to cycling key-workers and under-12s with their families.

The roads on the eastern side of Richmond Park, around Priory Lane and Broomfield Hill are temporarily closed to adult cyclists at all time to allows under-12s and family members to ride safely.

Cyclists are permitted to use the shared access Tamsin Trails around the perimeter of the park on weekdays only.

A statement from park management said: “We will undertake a managed re-introduction of cycling back into Richmond Park to provide access for weekday commuters. This will allow us to monitor and measure the impact of the re-introduction and whether any further measures are required.”

In March Royal Parks, the charity responsible for Richmond and other London parks announced that cycling would be banned in the green space because riders were not adhering to social distancing guidelines.

A Freedom of Information request later revealed that park staff had witnessed cyclists using their phones on the bike and riding at excessive speeds before the ban.

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Shortly after the London Cycling Campaign said the ban was unjustified last month, Royal Parks started to lets riders back in the gates at restricted times – before 10am and after 4pm on weekdays. .

The latest change means cyclists can use the park at any time during weekdays, but not weekends.