The Transport and Air Quality Committee agreed to changes to the legal status of the Thames towpath and approved a draft towpath movement strategy, which aims to enhance the nationally significant asset, improve access, and promote active travel. The committee also reviewed the Richmond Corporate Plan's mid-year performance, focusing on key performance indicators related to corporate priorities.

Towpath (Movement) Strategy

The committee approved a draft of the Towpath (Movement) Strategy, changes to its legal status, and authorised public engagement to inform the final strategy. The Richmond towpath movement strategy covers 17 kilometres of towpath within the borough, which is the only borough with riverbanks on both sides of the River Thames.

Chris Smith, Assistant Director of Engineering, explained that the strategy builds on work done over the last five to ten years and seeks to clarify the legal use of the towpath by introducing a restricted byway status, formalising the right of use through the establishment of historic use. He clarified that this is not a cycle track, but rather a way to maintain existing usages that have been formalised over a minimum of 20 years.

Councillor Alexander Ehmann, Chair of the Transport and Air Quality Committee, added that the bylaw change is to ensure that cycling, which already takes place on the towpath network, is recognised as legal.

Councillor Andrée Frieze, Leader of the Opposition, asked about the difference between bylaws and a cycling track. Chris Smith clarified that a cycle track would focus on cycle use, while the restricted byway reviews the formal uses observed over the last 20 years, including walking, wheelchair use, cycling, and dog walking, to formalise how the towpath is expected to be used.

Councillor Frieze followed up, asking if this precluded the possibility of separate demarcations for cycling and walking in the future. Councillor Ehmann responded that it does not, as the change simply creates a baseline of present use. Chris Smith added that all options are open, and segregation could be considered where there are large numbers of cyclists and pedestrians.

Councillor Gareth Richards, Cycling Champion, raised the question of organisations like Kingston Park Run and whether they had anything to fear from the change. Chris Smith responded that there are no intended changes to its use and availability to all users, just legalising cycling use.

Councillor Petra Fleming asked about the legal ownership of parts of the towpath, and what would happen in circumstances where ownership is unregistered. Chris Smith responded that land that isn't owned becomes known as crown land, and the council could claim this land if there's nobody else going to take ownership, adopt it and maintain it for its safe use.

Councillor Carey Bishop asked about the scope of the report, noting that it only goes just beyond Hampton Court Bridge and that there are areas in Hampton Wards that aren't included. Chris Smith responded that the area in scope is the area that is actually fully identifiable as Thames towpath, as identified by the legal team, but he would revisit that and feed back.

Councillor James Chard, Vice-Chair Transport & Air Quality Committee, raised the issue of public engagement on the draft strategy, noting that the papers may not be in a form that is hugely accessible to members of the public wishing to comment. Chris Smith responded that all options are available as to how the council will engage with the public, and that they are aware of the unwieldy nature of the document, particularly online.

Councillor Chard also raised the issue of public right-of-way changes, and whether some people might take the view that this is about changing the nature of use of the towpath and moving towards a greater degree of cycling use. Chris Smith responded that the thrust of the strategy is to make the towpath more usable and accessible to all by improving the surface and by enabling the council to provide an adequate width.

Councillor Chard then asked about the towpath board, and what the initial thoughts were on its constitution and political oversight. Chris Smith responded that the officer towpath board is designed to bring the right professionals into the room, most likely on a quarterly basis initially, to plan and deliver the management plans and take the condition survey. Councillor Ehmann added that the political oversight broadly needs to mirror that, and that the chair of the Environment Committee certainly, and maybe others, need to be involved.

Councillor Frieze asked about the make-up of the sponsor board, and how organisations like the Thames Landscape Strategy would be involved. Councillor Ehmann responded that the membership of that and the exact terms of reference have not been set, but that if Councillor Frieze had any strong views, to please send them to him.

Councillor Bishop asked about the financial aspect of the strategy, and whether there were external capital budgets that the council would be able to access. Chris Smith responded that Transport for London (TFL) have intimated they would fund a similar project elsewhere, and the Environment Agency strategy would be considered.

Councillor Frieze asked about the Thames Path and that being a national trail, and how that was considered as part of this document. Chris Smith responded that the Thames path and trail would have been considered as the existing uses, and that the council wants to formalise that use.

Councillor Jeremy Davis asked about the dual use between pedestrians and cyclists, and the fact that the towpath forms part of the national cycle network, and whether that makes it more of a substantial thing which means it's not actually technically legal to cycle on the towpath. Chris Smith responded that by moving to a restricted byway, the council formalises this use.

Councillor Hale said that he welcomed the plan, but that he saw nothing in it about the Thames Water Teddington Direct River Abstraction Project, or about engagement with Thames Tidal Council and the Tidal Council Forum. Chris Smith responded that the council will work with partners because there are no clear developments actually identified, and that any major work that involves any new flooding infrastructure will be worked on with local and national partners.

Councillor Bishop said that the towpath is such a key part of the borough, and that it is a responsibility to maintain it, to look to the future, and to invest appropriately.

Councillor Frieze raised the issue of lighting, and that there is a particular section from Berkla Gardens down to River Lane that people ask about, and whether there could be a little bit more of a look at certain stretches where the council might consider looking at how it might bring in some kind of very low level lighting just in terms of security and safety. Nick O'Donnell, Director of Growth and Place Directorate, responded that the council did a lighting pilot on the towpath by Amson Bridge, and that there is a very fine balance to be had in an ideal world, but that the overall balance of factors in terms of safety felt like it had probably done okay in terms of getting the right balance there.

Councillor Chard added that it's important to emphasise that the strategy is not about changing the fundamental nature of the towpath, but about making it work better in places in terms of managing pedestrian cycles of conflict, in terms of improving the areas where the surface has degraded over a period of time, and in terms of highlighting some of the cultural aspects.

Councillor Hale requested that the council make sure that it really engages the river community really well, particularly including sports clubs, all the really great sports clubs, and the various islanders and the various houseboats.

Councillor Davis said that it would be really useful if people were able to easily comment on geographically limited areas of the tape path, and that he had some difficulties accessing the report on a desktop computer.

Councillor Michael Butlin, Armed Forces Champion, agreed, and said that the difficulty with the consultation process is that it is a pan-council consultation process not owned by the transport team, and that in order to see it behave differently, the council has to come up with a different apparatus across council.

The committee agreed to the recommendation set up and paragraph two of the report on page seven of agenda pack two.

Richmond Corporate Plan 2025-26 mid-year (Q2) performance report

The committee reviewed the Richmond Corporate Plan's mid-year performance report, which provided an update on actions and key performance indicators (KPIs) related to the committee's corporate priorities for 2025/26.

Claire O'Connor, Director of Climate Change Policy and Communications, introduced the report, noting that it is a routine report that the committee receives every six months, and that it provides updates on the Q2 performance on the key performance indicators within the remit of the committee, as well as mid-year updates against the corporate plan actions that are within the remit of the committee.

Tim Lennon spoke on behalf of the recycling campaign, welcoming the new tranche of overnight parking the cycle hoops, and stressing the importance of parking for cycling as a really important hygiene factor. He proposed that the report include some more detailed standards towards the number of parking places in the borough and the plans for increase, and asked whether the cargo bike parking included the cargo bike hangars that were seen at the cargo bike fair.

Councillor Chard clarified that the corporate plan matters are things that the committee approved back in June, and that they're not going to get changed now, but that he had a couple of things to take away for the future. He said that there's quite a lot in RCP 048, which is great because it reflects the level of ambition in terms of air quality, but it would be more readable and usable if that would just spit out into a number of different actions so the committee could see progress against each action.

Councillor Frieze asked about the KPI on number of interventions by compliance officers, and whether that needs to be changed slightly given the PSBOs coming in to reflect the difference in how the council is addressing issues.

Councillor Hale thanked all officers and members of this committee for the work on the pedestrian priority pilot project, and asked about RCP044, which is to deliver 25 cargo bike parking pay, six in October with six more bays being explored, and what the thoughts were on the remainder of that 25. David Tidley, Head of Transport Strategy, responded that the first six have got in and the council is monitoring their implementation and how well they're being used, and then will build that from there.

The committee agreed the recommendations set out in paragraph 2 of the report on page 15 of Agenda Pack 1.

Committee Work Programme

The committee considered the committee work programme.

Councillor Chard noted that Zipcar, the car club provider, announced a decision to exit the London market completely, and asked whether it would be possible to have a paper in February on the future of these services, and whether there is any prospect of a knight in shining armour that might come in for the numbers that have been lost, and secondly, there's the issue of the bays which are currently allocated for this use.

Councillor Bishop said that the Hampton Court Road scheme is so congested, and that it's really important to that whole area, the whole bit was coaxed in and out of the borough, and that she wanted to make sure it's all taken into one view on that road.

Councillor Frieze said that it would be nice if the council could keep those parking bays for as long as possible to maintain them for cars that are not privately owned, and that there is a lot going on at the moment in terms of COMO UK and what they are doing and talking to other providers, and that it would be really good if the council could just try and hold back those bays before being too hasty.

The committee agreed that the current committee forward plan programme with the addition of the paper on Zipcar or stroke rental car services in February be noted.