Thames Landscape Strategy - Hampton to Kew -

Arcadian Diary September 2003

When I was offered the job as Co-ordinator of the Thames Landscape Strategy (TLS) in July 2000 I could not believe my luck. For a young professional working within the field of waterway conservation it seemed a dream come true. The chance to help shape the future of one of Europe’s finest watery landscapes, a partnership to support me in my work that included four local authorities and six national agencies and best of all the support of the local community united in a shared vision for the riverside. The future looked good. The TLS Accessible Thames Walking Guide had just been published to national acclaim and we had initiated many successful enhancement projects already. But one question kept returning to me. How could the TLS really make the difference with such limited funding available?

My concerns only grew as I got to know the many different people in the area who were very knowledgeable and keen to point out what needed doing. I was taken on walks, cycle rides and boat trips and soon got to know every lost view, litter hotspot or broken seat in great detail. I should have guessed then what the future held and fled back to my old job at British Waterways but I didn’t – as their passion and vision for the landscape was infectious and things were beginning to happen.

A meeting had already been initiated at English Heritage’s headquarters at Saville Row to discuss these issues, and the forthcoming Centenary of the View from Richmond Hill was to be celebrated by the Richmond Society who had plans to unveil a plaque on the brow of the hill. There were proposals for the Warren Footpath and Orleans Gardens in Twickenham and outline proposals for the restoration of the Ham Avenues. In addition, was the development of landscape plans for Richmond Riverside, Richmond Hill and Ham towpath. It was extremely encouraging but something still bothered me. There were lots of good ideas proposed for the riverside and many groups involved but how was it all going to work?

December 2001, whilst sitting in the window of my favourite London pub: The Roebuck, starring out over the view, everything suddenly fell into place. Why not pull all of the projects together to create one mammoth project. In this way our limited resources, time and budget could be pooled into one external funding bid – wasn’t this after all what the Thames Landscape was founded for? The View from Richmond Hill had obviously worked its magic once again as it had inspired many people before me. The idea for the project was put to the Thames Landscape Strategy partners for approval. One concern I had though was that the plan would require concentrating my efforts in this area for a number of years. Happily, the Partners took the long-term view and agreed immediately to the development of this large plan. Rapid talks followed, with Strategy author, Kim Wilkie, garden historian Mavis Batey and Alison Quant at Richmond Council. By the end of the same week we had a second meeting organised at Saville Row. The Arcadia project was born.

Many hours were spent discussing and agreeing the specific aims of the project. The area was already seen as an Arcadia – a rural paradise, cherished by local people and known throughout the world for its beauty. What was needed therefore was restoration, repair and management, not the creation of monumental parks or new landscaped gardens. Arcadia had to follow the principles adopted in the Thames Landscape Strategy and embrace the many different strands of conservation at play along the river. For this reason tourism, lighting, education, historic gardens, bio-diversity and recreation were all seen as vital pieces ion the jigsaw. The needs of all local residents had to be accounted for including those with four legs or wings!

It was extremely important to me that Arcadia should be developed as a model for future work that could be rolled out across the TLS area upstream of Richmond to Teddington, Kingston and Molesey and down to Isleworth, Kew and Brentford.

The decision was made to apply for a large Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £3M. From the very start it was clear that we could not ask Richmond Council for such large amounts of funding. If we wanted Arcadia to succeed we had to make certain we found a new way to improve services ourselves set within a framework of decreasing resources at the Civic Centre. This said, the Council has provided more to ensure that Arcadia has been successful than we ever could have hoped for, providing a mechanism to enable the project to develop. This included considerable staff time, resources, political backing and even funding to underwrite the initial match funding requirements stipulated by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Anne Partington-Omar, Property Manager of the National Trust’s Ham House, was appointed to Chair a small committee that included English Heritage, Richmond Council, the Environment Trust, Lord Watson of Richmond and myself. The next stage was to find out what local residents wanted to be included in the Lottery Bid. This was no easy task as I soon found out. Everybody wanted something slightly different and every one had a view as to how to get it. But the one thing that united everyone I spoke to was the real and passionate desire for improvement – improvement to the built and natural heritage, a reduction in litter and the need to properly mange the riverside. Arcadia had to unite these views into one holistic set of proposals. A meeting was held at the Petersham Hotel in April 2001 and a draft set of projects was presented. From this meeting a 12-month process of consultation, persuasion, listening, enthusing and rewriting took place (the final document presented to the Heritage Lottery Fund had to be re-written over 7 times and all of this out of normal working office hours!). Whilst we wrote and re-wrote these drafts we were conscious of the need to publicise the project and a series of talks, events and volunteer work parties was initiated.

In January 2002 help arrived in the form of Ken MacKenzie – a dedicated Arcadia Project Officer to help the team take the whole thing forward and by April 2002 the Lottery Bid was completed just in time to co-incide with the Centenary celebrations of the Act of Parliament that saved the View from Richmond Hill. More than 500 people gathered on the brow of Richmond Hill on that beautiful May evening to witness the unveiling of the plaque dedicated to those who saved the watery panorama 100 years ago. The evening finished with a splendid gala performance at the Royal Star and Garter home telling the story of The View in words, music and song before Sir Roy Strong formally launched the Lottery Bid.

What we achieved I believe was nothing short of a miracle. Simply to have persuaded external funders of the pressing need for an HLF bid for ‘leafy Richmond’ was an achievement in itself. But to have put together such a large proposal so quickly was astounding and only achieved through the co-operation of all involved.

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