News in Richmond

Forget staycations or trips abroad, London is once again in lockdown and we're back to life at home.

While this November lockdown may be chillier than its springtime predecessor, there is no better time to explore a quieter London in its autumnal glory.

Richmond Park custodians the Royal Parks have told people not to arrive by car this weekend.

The charity wants to avoid a repeat of the situation last Saturday and Sunday when huge numbers of people visited, leading to gridlocked roads and deer being penned in by large crowds of people.

Two car parks in Richmond Park hit capacity before noon on a weekday earlier this week as its popularity as a visitor destination continued.

Royal Parks said at 11.35am on Thursday, November 12: "Good morning everyone. Roehampton and Pembroke Lodge car parks are now full and traffic is flowing very slowly.

A person has died after contracting Covid-19, the leader of Richmond Council said today.

It is the first coronavirus-linked death among residents of Richmond borough for a full two months.

Could a vehicle entry fee into Richmond Park be a better way to keep traffic levels down than parking charges?

The Royal Parks charity is currently considering the responses to a consultation on introducing fees to use the car parks inside Bushy and Richmond Park.

More than 600 tickets have been sold for the first draw of the new community lottery Get Lucky Local which guarantees at least £15,000 to good causes in the Richmond Borough ahead of the first draw this Saturday.

So far, 34 good causes have signed up to the lottery where 50p in the £ of every ticket sold goes to local groups and another 10p into a central fund for other causes.

Coronavirus infections have fallen in a number of Richmond neighbourhoods.

The government's interactive map allows residents to see the seven-day rolling rate of new coronavirus cases broken down by Middle layer Super Output Areas (MSOAs).

On Christmas Eve four years ago, Sian Thomas spotted a homeless young man sitting on the pavement outside Burger King. She asked him if he was OK and they fell into conversation.

"I bought him a burger, and he started telling me about his life," she says. "I could have written his story before he told me.

When Helen returned home from a visit to the Townmead Recycling Centre and reached for her mobile phone, a chill ran down her spine.

For she quickly realised that the handset may well have been accidentally tossed into one of the many skips.

Richmond is to increase Covid-19 testing in a bid to identify more cases, reduce the spread of infection and protect lives and livelihoods.

Our borough is one of 67 local authorities to sign up for the rollout of the rapid turnaround lateral flow tests – which can give results in under an hour, without the need for laboratory processing.