{"id":438714,"date":"2026-01-26T14:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T14:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/438714\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T14:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T14:49:08","slug":"rfu-targets-transport-revamp-and-undercover-police-to-sway-twickenham-residents-over-concert-plan-rugby-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/438714\/","title":{"rendered":"RFU targets transport revamp and undercover police to sway Twickenham residents over concert plan | Rugby union"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rugby Football Union<\/a> is hopeful a proposed overhaul of Twickenham rail station and the deployment of undercover police officers on matchdays will help sway opponents of plans to host more concerts to pay for the \u00a3660m stadium upgrade.<\/p>\n

The union is seeking to increase the number of non-sporting events held at Twickenham each year from three to 15 in order to pay for the stadium overhaul but encountered a roadblock last year when Richmond council expressed \u201csignificant concerns\u201d over transport links. The council also determined in October that a limit of three concerts \u2013 and only one not on a Saturday \u2013 would remain as part of its new licence amid considerable opposition from residents.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the RFU will seek to convince residents at a drop-in session where new plans will be revealed. The Guardian understands they include a revamp of Twickenham station which could double the number of passengers per train and the presence of \u201cplain clothes officers\u201d \u2013 including a mix of police and stewards \u2013 and the introduction of \u201ccivil enforcement officers\u201d in an effort to tackle anti-social behaviour.<\/p>\n

The RFU intends to resubmit planning and licensing applications \u2013 after local elections have taken place in May \u2013 and is optimistic that previous hurdles can be overcome. In November, the RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney said<\/a>: \u201cWe\u2019ve laid out very clearly for [Richmond council] what it means for us. Those events are essential for us if we\u2019re to reinvest in the stadium and the stadium needs reinvestment to keep pace with other stadiums. It\u2019s not a grandstanding negotiation tactic. We need those in order to justify the investment into the stadium. They understand that. They want us to stay. And our plan A is to stay. We contribute over \u00a390m to the local economy and well over \u00a3100m to the greater London economy. They want us to stay here but purely from a financial validity point, it\u2019s essential we get those extra events. I\u2019m confident.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year the RFU submitted written evidence to a Culture, Media and Sport committee inquiry, citing \u201cseveral millions of pounds\u201d in lost revenue due to closures or restrictions because of engineering works, highlighting the overreliance on the rail station on matchdays. Indeed, around 38,000 spectators use Twickenham rail station \u2013 45% of attendees \u2013 leading to road closures of up to three and a half hours after matches have finished. It is understood that only around 2% use the district and Piccadilly lines from Richmond and Hounslow East, respectively. Through better education and the use of LED signage, the union is hoping to increase that to around 10%.<\/p>\n

As revealed by the Guardian in October, the RFU\u2019s plans to host more concerts hit a setback when Richmond council decided to keep the limit of three a year, including, significantly, only one not on a Saturday. The most up to date planning permission also only allows for three a year but does not restrict on what days of the week they can be. Sweeney has previously lamented how \u201cwe could have had Beyonc\u00e9 but she wanted three nights and we are only allowed two nights consecutively\u201d.<\/p>\n

England fans at a crowded Twickenham station which the RFU hopes to ease with upgrades and new queueing plans Photograph: PA Images\/Alamy<\/p>\n

At the licensing subcommittee meeting, 192 representations were heard against the RFU\u2019s proposal, 13 in favour. Much of the opposition centres around anti-social behaviour and as previously revealed by the Guardian<\/a>, the RFU has gone as far to suggest the use of \u201canti-pee paint\u201d, which would leave public offenders \u201ccovered in their own urine\u201d. Introducing undercover officers is an attempt to further tackle anti-social behaviour while there are also plans to use temporary barriers in local alleyways to prevent unauthorised access and to ensure fixed penalty notices are issued to offenders.<\/p>\n

The RFU\u2019s application is running in two parallel parts: licensing and planning. In effect, the union failed with its licensing application while in its exploratory planning application, Richmond council determined that further investigation was needed, in the main due to transport concerns. The RFU is seeking to address those concerns with an overhaul of the queueing system at Twickenham rail station which could shorten the length of road closures, better dialogue with South West Trains and more efficient use of other transport networks before resubmitting its applications.<\/p>\n

The union is frustrated that venues such as Wembley and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium are able to stage lucrative concerts because of looser restrictions on non-sporting events. Sweeney has previously hinted that the RFU could leave Twickenham<\/a> and move to either Milton Keynes or Birmingham if the union does not get its wish over more concerts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Rugby Football Union is hopeful a proposed overhaul of Twickenham rail station and the deployment of undercover…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-438714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}