SUSTAINABLE ACCESS to RICHMOND a REPORT for the COUNTRYSIDE AGENCY YORKSHIRE & HUMBER REGION and the RICHMOND SWALE VALLEY COMMUNITY INITIATIVE
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SUSTAINABLE ACCESS TO RICHMOND A REPORT FOR THE COUNTRYSIDE AGENCY YORKSHIRE & HUMBER REGION and THE RICHMOND SWALE VALLEY COMMUNITY INITIATIVE TFL 67 GROVE ROAD ILKLEY WEST YORKSHIRE LS29 9PQ 01943 607868 NOVEMBER 2004 1. THE TASK Through the provisions of the Countryside Agency’s Sustainable Visitor Transport Advisory Service, Transport for Leisure Ltd. (TFL) has been asked to provide transport advice to the Richmond Swale Valley Community Initiative and to the Countryside Agency Yorkshire & Humber Region. This advice relates to the requirement: To provide advice on transport within the town, sustainable transport from the town to the river and transport links to and from the outside world. In consultation with Richmond Town Manager and with the CA Regional Office this has been expanded to examine three areas that relate to both transport and sustainable tourism development in Richmond: • To carry to a brief audit of available links to Richmond by public transport, both road and rail, and to suggest how they can be made more effective by better interchange, ticketing and marketing; • To consider how Richmond can be developed both as a green tourism destination in its own right, but also as a focal point and hub to explore the northern Dales by sustainable forms of transport – walking, cycling and using the local bus network; • To examine ways and make practical recommendations to improve accessibility within central Richmond, most notably between the town centre, the riverside and the existing and proposed new developments at Richmond Station. All three tasks are closely related within the broader theme of developing the historic town of Richmond as a sustainable tourism destination and base for both day and staying visitors: 2. BACKGROUND The Strategic Framework for Action In July 2003 The Richmond Swale Valley Community Initiative (RSVCI) received and accepted, on behalf of all partners, a detailed report known as the Strategic Framework for the RSVI which had been prepared on their behalf by consultants Chris Blandford Associates as part of what has been described as a “new type of market town regeneration project”. The Report covers a wide range of areas of proposed work relating to the social, economic and environmental development of the town and its immediate environs. There is a strong emphasis on economic regeneration and environmental improvement by sustainable community development projects and by encouraging forms of tourism which will maximise the area’s economic potential whilst minimising the disbenefits of visitor pressure in what is a unique historic and cultural environment. As well as offering an inspiring Vision for Richmond, the Framework contains a detailed, costed Action Plan which outlines specific action to be taken by the partners and by outside bodies to realise that Vision, as well as recommendations for sources of funding Among key issues raised and dealt with in the Framework is Access and Transport, (5.6) which notes the town’s closeness to both the A1(M) and A66 trunk roads and the fact that the town has “adequate” car parking capacity but is also “reasonably accessible” by public transport. In fact the core bus service between Richmond and Darlington has significantly improved since the Study was undertaken, there now being a 20 minute interval “clock face” service between Darlington Railway Station, town centre and Richmond, which even on Sundays operates every 30 minutes on each hour and half hour from the Station. A key Strategy Goal in the Framework is “Promoting Sustainable Tourism” (F) which, according to most internationally accepted definitions, includes tourism which makes least demands on the environment. Logically this means ensuring visitors are not entirely dependent on using their cars for all or most of their journeys, and encouraging walking, cycling and using the available public transport networks for all or part of their stay. There is also a recognition that what Richmond has to offer in terms of a high quality visitor experience should be available for all, which must also include fully accessible forms of transport to and within the town, It is therefore appropriate that the Framework recognises that a “High Priority” among Projects in the Action Plan should be a “Sustainable Transport Network for Richmond, the Swale Valley and the Hinterland” (Project D4). Market Town Renaissance The RSVCI has also received strong support from the Regional Development Agency, Yorkshire Forward, who has identified Richmond, together with Catterick Garrison, as one of their “Renaissance Market Towns” to receive targeted support from YF in the form of expertise from the RMT panel to develop the following three areas: • The preparation of a Retail Impact Assessment of the development of Catterick Garrison Town centre on the surrounding area • The preparation of an Investment & project delivery Plan for the RSVI Strategy • The preparation of a Masterplan for the RSVI Strategy area In their draft report for Richmond and Catterick Garrison Implementation and Project Delivery (September 2004) YF’s consultants GVA Grimley indicate that developing a sustainable transport network to access Richmond reflects both North Yorkshire County Council Local Transport Plan and Richmondshire District Council objectives. The report looks in more detail at the possibility of developing a Road Train system to link Richmond town and its riverside, and suggests that a “Feasibility Study should be carried out in relation to the merits of launching a road train in Richmond” which could also examine the potential of extending such a service, perhaps along the trackbed of the old railway line, to Eastby Abbey. Richmond Town Centre Traffic Management This proposal would support and closely reflect the North Yorkshire County Council Traffic Management Study for the centre of Richmond, prepared by Mouchel on behalf of North Yorkshire County Council, currently being implemented, which includes rationalisation of parking and removal of the bus and coach parking from the Market Place, with a new bus station/interchange/coach drop off point in Queen’s Road by the Friary Gardens, together with 20mph zones, pedestrian improvement and cycle parking provision and cycle lanes in and around the town centre. Richmond Station Regeneration Such proposals all tie in closely with another major YF funded project in Richmond, the redevelopment of Richmond’s historic station. This magnificent Grade II* Listed building, originally opened in 1846, is of nationally importance as a fine example of first generation railway architecture. Richmond Station lost its train service in 1969 when the 10 mile branch from the East Coast main line at Eyreholme Junction, south of Darlington, was closed to passengers. This was despite claims that much of the contributory revenue from traffic on the line, including MoD traffic, was not fully acknowledged as part of the case to retain the line. At that time opponents had to prove almost impossibly tight definition of personal “hardship” to put a case forward to retain a railway service. The closure occurred little more than a couple of years before changing perceptions of rural transport economics were to ensure the survival of other rural branch lines. There can be little doubt that the closure of the Richmond branch line was a severe blow to the overall subsequent economic prosperity of the town, as many other case studies of rural rail closures have shown. There is little doubt too, however, that the distance of the station some 700 metres (approximately half a mile) from the main town square and some 60 metres difference in height, was a contributory factor, as the parallel bus services from Darlington serving the central Market Place had, by the 1960s, taken much local traffic, though not people making longer distance journeys, who were for many years forced to walk across much of Darlington town centre between the bus and rail stations. The proposals to revive Richmond Station for other purposes than travel are nevertheless warmly welcome. The Richmond Station Regeneration Project is seeking £2.3 million to restore the main station building for a verity of community-based uses, as workshops, meeting rooms, exhibition space, a café, a restaurant, and local cheese making, alongside the existing leisure centre and swimming pool. Yorkshire Forward have already (July 2004) offered grants of up to £240,000 and further support is being sought from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the European Regional Development Fund, as well as from private individuals and corporate sponsors. This will create a new centre of commercial and leisure activity for the local community and visitors alike close to Richmond’s attractive area of riverside and popular walk along the old railway to Easby Abbey. However, with limited parking space at the Station, the distance on foot, and the fairly steep gradient between the Station and the town centre, will once again be an issue to be addressed. Transport and synergy What is especially interesting therefore about the emerging revitalisation of Richmond is the synergy which the various projects are creating with sustainable transport, both in terms of effective management of the traffic created by the majority of visitor who will continue to arrive by car, but also in terms of creating networks of high quality, well promoted green travel networks – walking, cycling and using low emission buses or road trains. Such networks can both bring people to Richmond by sustainable means (the Deep Green solution) and, when they have arrived by whatever means, allow and encourage them to travel around by forms of transport which will not only reduce their impact on Richmond’s special environment, but enhance the quality of their experience in several ways (the Pale Green option). In the next three sections we describe the three main requirements to develop this twin approach. 3. DARLINGTON-RICHMOND QUALITY BUS LINK; RICHMOND’S VIRTUAL BRANCH LINE By both national and international standards, Richmond has a frequent, good quality, direct bus connection to a key nodal point on the national rail network: Darlington.