Sad remnant

When the Richmond Chase development was finished the wild area along Latchmere Lane was roped off from the paths cutting through it but these always looked flimsy and had already started to break in May 2021, now all that remains is one post and a little bit of rope hanging on to it in desparation.

Time Capsule

A time capsule has been revealed by the recent clearance work in Church Road alongside Richmond Chase.

There is another time capsule on the other side of the wall within the Richmond Chase development.

Clearance

The little patch of Ham Common Woods trapped between Church Road, Latchmere Lane and Richmond Chase (Latchmere House Prison) has always looked a a bit scruffy and felt a bit neglected and so it was both surprising and pleasing to see clearance work being done there, as evidenced by these large piles of wood chippings.

Turn Left Only

It is a few years since Richmond Chase, off Church Road, was a construction site but in their clean-up Berkley left behind this sign.

Approaching Richmond Chase

The approach to Richmond Chase from Church Road is rather attractive with the trees almost masking the houses. There is some irony in that these houses with the natural aspect and open space in front of them are the social houses while the very expensive houses behind them are confined to a narrow brick canyon.

Time capsule

A time capsule was buried in the untouched wild area in the north-west corner of Richmond Chase and its position has been marked by this small discrete sign and a rose.

On the ropes

The redevelopment of Latchmere House as Richmond Chase has left the large area between the development and Latchmere Lane abandoned and unloved.

A few trees have been left, which is good, but apart from that the area has been left to grow unplanted and unmanaged and the ridiculous post and rope barriers are already broken in several places.

Into Richmond Chase

Richmond Chase is all but finished and, after four years, this will be my last photograph of it - until something changes, obviously.

This is the path into Richmond Chase from Latchmere Lane. It is also something of a short cut to Church Road if you are heading west, not that many people do that. 

A new way into Richmond Chase

There is little going for Richmond Chase as far as I can see so it is good news that there will be a new route through it and even better news that this is a footpath a not a road.

This is the northern or the two connections to Latchmere Lane with the oppressive Richmond Chase ruining the view on the right.

The middle section of the short path is  looking good manly thanks to the mature trees.

Then it stops and I had to turn around and go back again. Hopefully it will be open soon.

It also needs more trees to screen the buildings.

Richmond Chase approaches completion

Work at Richmond Chase is (finally) drawing to a close. These two houses are ticked in behind the main road as it curls round to the east in an "L" shape. They are not yet accessible but there was a gap in the fencing that I was able to take advantage of.

There are still many yellow "Richmond Chase" road signs around, some of which seem to be fairly new, and the number of "For Sale" signs within the development suggests that they are not flying off the shelves. There are also a fair number that are occupied or marked as "Sold" so I think Richmond Chase will eventually be a success (for the developers).

Approach to Latchmere House

The previous picture I posted of Latchmere House was from further back to show its setting, this time I wanted to show the new approach.

It is pretty enough and I hope that it stays that way but that will depend on how much, and what sort of, maintenance it gets. And maintenance costs money.

I am also concerned that the path to the front door is not straight as people hate taking the longer route, just consider all of the unofficial paths you use when a slightly longer proper one is available, and there is a risk that a path will develop through the central flowerbed. 

No drainage

There has been enough talk about porous surfaces in recent years that I would not have expected mistakes this simple to be made. The bottom end of Richmond Chase is all hard surfaces and there is no water to go so it just sits there.

The Regency Apartments

What was once called Latchmere House is now being branded as The Regency Apartments, which is odd as Latchmere House is Victorian.

The refurbished building looks pretty enough from this angle and has the advantage of being next to Ham Common Woods which is just off to the left. Unfortunately just off to the right is the rest of the cramped Richmond Chase development.

Now with cars

Cars were always going to the a problem in Richmond Chase. The publicity images produced during the planning stages showed a clean sweep with far fewer and smaller cars. And without bin boxes too.

The final look is not one that appeals to me but all the houses (in this section) have been sold so some people clearly like what they have done.

The last leg of Richmond Chase

The main development of Richmond chase is shapes like and inverted "T" with the main road running down from Latchmere House and this is the order of the construction.

The picture above shows the west end of the cross-road facing towards Garth Road. Due to residents' pressure the original plans were changed so that Richmond Chase does now connect to Garth Road, which would have provided a second access to the site. I think that this was a mistake.

The is the view looking east from the other end. This part of the development is much like the main north-south road with large houses in a cramped bland setting. At least there is a hint of a walkway on the right.

A new approach to Latchmere House

Latchmere House is one of the final parts of Richmond Chase to be completed (work started three years ago) and what was a building site is now being transformed into a garden. It is early days but so far I prefer the garden it had when it was a prison.

Final stages of Richmond Chase

I have been taking photos of Richmond Chase for over two years and it is gradually moving towards completion with opening up of the section that connects to Garth Road.

The removal of the fence there finally opens up the full view along the main road, though Latchmere House at the far end is still hidden behind sheeting as the work there continues.

The view is not ugly but it is not as pretty as the original advertisements suggested, not that it was ever going to be, and the storage bins are clearly part of the reason for that.

The houses at the end of the road look rather different thanks to the red brick. As with the rest of the development, they are impressively large houses squeezed into inappropriately small plots.

I would not want to live here though other people do and a lot of the properties have sold signs on them and several are already occupied.

Main road through Richmond Chase

The main road through Richmond Chase, leading down from Latchmere House, is now all but complete. On my last visit there it looked as though some were occupied and in the others there were tradesmen doing, I presume, the final plumbing, wiring and painting etc.

The road does look quite nice though it will be less so once the clean sweep of the buildings is interrupted by the large cars that will fill every parking place.

All of the properties had gained two hanging baskets since my previous visit and they certainly help to brighten things up though their presence is perhaps an admission that the frontages needed brightening up and that the properties are not selling as well as hoped.

Richmond Chase extends

After several months of anticipation the fence blocking the main road in Richmond Chase has finally moved back almost all the way showing for the first time what the finished development will look like.

Unfortunately on this day many of the houses were still being worked on and there were too many large ugly vans parked for me to show the whole of the road so I had to content myself with the lower end.

Individually the houses look nice, as did the interior of the show home, so it is a little sad that they are cramped so close together and that the small frontages are dominated by bin stores.

Entrance to Richmond Chase

The poster shows what the entrance to Richmond Chase will look like once the rebuilding of Latchmere House. The poster, like the photograph, cheats a little by showing the view from between two blocks of affordable housing that form the real entrance.

I have nothing against the affordable housing, just the opposite, I wish there was ore of it. My argument is against the design of the site that hides the centrepiece, Latchmere House, behind a wall of red brick.