Distance to school: via railway footbridge

[Richard8020]

Hi,

I will be applying to a school in Twickenham, and the walking distance which is the shortest and just about close enough to get into that school is via a footbridge over a railway line. The footbridge is near St.Margarets station between Godstone Road and Amyand Park Road.

I have tried asking the Richmond school admissions team but haven't received an answer yet.

I wonder whether anyone has any knowledge about that specific question/location or about how Richmond Borough specifically would treat this.

I have read the Richmond admissions document and it says this:

"For Richmond schools, the home to school distance is the shortest route by road or maintained footpath in metres as measured by the School Admissions’ computerised geographical information system (GIS) and data supplied by Ordnance Survey."

Hard to know whether a (maintained) footbridge counts as a maintained footpath.

Thanks for reading.

Best wishes
Rich

If you look on google maps it includes the footbridge as part of the quickest walking route so I would say you're OK

On Richmond Council website Definitive Map that bridge is shown as a public right of way - PROW222, so I would say you would be fine.

See clip below

Thank you both, very much appreciate your replies.

The council map is a revelation, I never knew that was there! The PROW info is very useful and does suggest a good chance of success. Thanks again.

Rich

I would definitely confirm with Richmond. What Google maps says is irrelevant for admission purposes, and not all rights of way are maintained by the LA unfortunately - I can't find it on the Richmond list of maintained roads -

Statutory list of highways maintained at public expense (richmond.gov.uk)

I think it's just as likely to be owned and maintained by Network Rail. There is definitely an argument to be made that it should be included, but that's a conversation better had before the admission round than after!