The Richmond Council Parks Team is working to improve the impact, reach and quality of access to parks and open spaces in the borough to residents who experience barriers to access.
Currently the model is being developed in five parks:
The model of accessible Friendly Parks for All has been developed in consultation with several local care charities in order to meet the needs of their clients.
The model includes:
- Additional seating and resting places
- Act of Kindness benches to encourage conversations between park users
- Improved paths and improved access, entrance/exit markers and a meeting point to aid navigation and help orientate yourself within the park
- Signage and routes marked with specially designed way finders
- Sensory trails
Seeds of Change newsletter
The Seeds of Change project aims to encourage more use of parks and open spaces by local people.
For more details about the project read the Seeds of Change newsletter (pdf, 2.9 MB) or contact Frances Bennett by email at outdoor.learning@outlook.com.
Accessibility guides
Accessibility guides have been developed for all five parks:
- Barnes Green (pdf, 2.0 MB)
- Carlisle Park (pdf, 1.4 MB)
- Ham Village Green (pdf, 586 KB)
- Heathfield Recreation Ground (pdf, 2.0 MB)
- Kneller Gardens (pdf, 1.7 MB)
Activities
As part of the Friendly Parks for All project there are free activities on offer, including monthly accessible wellbeing walks held in association with local charities Ruils and Richmond Borough Mind.
See the Habitats and Heritage events calendar for further details of these and other events.
2023 activities
- Accessible Wellbeing Walks 2023 (pdf, 3.0 MB)
- Wellbeing Walks 2023 (pdf, 906 KB)
- Friendly Parks for All activities 2023 (pdf, 438 KB)
- Litter Walk Programme 2023 (pdf, 445 KB)
For further information on the above, please visit Richmond Council's Friendly Parks for All page.