We're promoting play streets to enhance community wellbeing
Wednesday, 17 January 2024
We're encouraging residents to get together and organise play streets, helping to provide a safe and enjoyable community environment for children to play in.
Play streets involve residents temporarily closing their road to traffic for a couple of hours, allowing children to engage in outdoor activities and play freely close to their home. The initiative aims to create vibrant and safe spaces within neighbourhoods, promote a sense of community wellbeing and enhance the overall quality of life for residents.
Councillor Tracey Wye, our Executive Member for Sustainability and Climate Resilience, is excited about the initiative. She said:
What a great idea to get kids outside playing again! It’s often said children don’t get out enough, and that they don’t have the same opportunities my generation had to build BMX ramps in the street or chalk up pavements for hopscotch.
Today, we have too many cars on the roads, both being driven and parked up, and a general fear that something bad might happen if children are out-of-doors unsupervised.
The play streets scheme is not only a brilliant way to create that safe space to allow children to have fun outside their own homes, but it also gives neighbours the chance to come together and bond as they make their street a shared playground for all ages.
The benefits of play streets extend beyond recreation. They encourage outdoor physical activity, reduce traffic-related concerns and provide an opportunity for neighbours to connect and build relationships. Most of all they allow children to have fun safely outdoors. They would typically take place every other week or once a month.
Find out more about play streets.
We're committed to helping residents to navigate the process, check if streets are suitable and talk through questions and concerns.