Residents of the Queens Road Estates Richmond are coming together with supporters and allies, such as Habitats & Heritage and LBRUT, to make the Queens Road Estates the best place for residents and wildlife to thrive.

WILDLIFE CORRIDOR

Plans are already underway for a Wildlife Corridor on the QRE. In summer 2025 a site visit from Habitats & Heritage identified a route for the corridor starting at Grove Road Gardens in the north, winding down Grove Road, past the Cambrian Community Centre, threading through the back of Reynold's Place and Hobart Place, and ending at the Amenity Land behind Sayers Walk and the Lass of Richmond Hill in the south.

 

RAIN GARDEN

The site visit also identified a perfect site  for the QRE's first Rain Garden, which will both help prevent future flooding and support wildlife. The site chosen is the disused, bowl-shaped, asphalt playground at the rear of Hobart Place.

The site visit was followed, in autumn 2025, by a preliminary consultation with  rain garden experts, Community Bluescapes. The confirmed the site's suitability and recommended lifting the asphalt, improving drainage and planting a mix of trees, shrubs and grasses that would tolerate pollution, drought and flooding. The re-landscaped area will also provide  valuable wildlife habitat in a currently barren patch along the Wildlife Corridor as well as being an uplifting environment for residents, who have already expressed their enthusiasm for the idea.

RESTORATION OF BLUEBELL WOOD

After the site visit, conversations with residents who have lived on Phase One for many years brought to light the fact that there used to be a beautiful Bluebell Wood on the Amenity Land. The sight of these native spring flowers has become rarer and rarer over the years, as the understory grew thicker and brambles took over at ground level.

We hope that, with the help of residents, Habitats & Heritage and volunteers that we can thin the overgrowth and give the bulbs, which should still be there, a chance to se the light again - and for residents to enjoy them.  So, after the nesting season ends in autumn 2026, we plan to start work thinning out the understory and reducing the bramble overgrowth.

POSSIBLE FUTURE INITIATIVES 

- Our Natural Neighbours. In collaboration with Habitats & Heritage, LBRUT's Conservation and Ecology Team, and Naturalists, residents can monitor species that we once commonly saw on the Queens Road Estates, such as bats, owls or blackbirds but whose numbers are in decline.

- Sponge Streets - proposals to gradually replace hard surfacing with a mix absorbent surfaces, including permeable pavements, superdrain asphalt and plants which will absorb run off in periods of heavy rain, reduce the amount of water flowing into the drains and help prevent flooding.

- Dark Skies - we support the local dark skies initiative which was announced at the launch of LBRUT Biodiversity Plan in September 2025 https://habitatsandheritage.org.uk/our-work/parks-nature/richmond-biodiversity-partnership/.

- Who Do We Think We Are? - oral histories providing first-hand, verbatim accounts of what it's like to live on the estates and their surrounding area. Contributions are also welcome from those who live close by, or remember the area before the estates were built.

- Live Chat - periodic catch ups over a tea, coffee or a glass of something to get to know each other in person and chat about how we see our future.

- Getting Stuck In - volunteers meet to count species, remove brambles, pick litter or whatever task needs doing.

- Website and Social Media  - friends who can help build the website and a social media presence can make a real difference to our success. 

- How We Got Here - a History of the land and estates from the 1700s to today.

- What We Are Made Of - original designs and lists of materials specified by the architects and approved by planners for use in the built environment. We hope that these pages will provide L&Q and their contractors a point of easy access to specifications, materials used, planning conditions, Grade 2 listing and other restrictions.

WHO PAYS?

Most of our initiatives will cost money. And currently, this is money we do not have.

Clearly, to get any of these initiatives off the groun, we need not only residents' and friends' support, but also quite a lot of funding. 

The first step toward raising funds is to give this currently informal group of friends a more formal structure and organisation, so that we can start making funding applications.  More on this in the Community Newsletters and at the next Residents' Meeting, currently scheduled by L&Q for the evening of 31st March 2026 at the Cambrian Community Centre.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

All suggestions, thoughts, questions and offers of help are VERY WELCOME. PLEASE EMAIL us at friendsofqueensroadestates@gmail.com