Street LifeSPRING/SUMMER 2011 WWW.LIVINGSTREETS.ORG.UK

WaLKING fRIENdLy NEIGhbOURhOOdS

InsIde:street party fever across the countryKeep them close, don’t watch them closeMy Living streets launches and hits the top spot

Our campaign to keep shops and services within walking distance

03Welcome •

Street Life spring/summer 2011

02 •

Street Life spring/summer 2011

CONTENTS IMPORTaNCE Of WaLKING fRIENdLy NEIGhbOURhOOdS earlier this year, we launched our neighbourhood Heroes campaign that aims to celebrate and protect the local shops and services we value by keeping them within walking distance. As part of the campaign we published new YouGov research. We found that more than a quarter (28%) of British residents say they feel isolated, or have a friend or loved one who does, because of difficulty accessing on foot basic amenities such as libraries, shops selling fresh food, post offices, banks and pubs.

The government is currently embarking on a shake-up of the planning system which could have a real impact on what powers communities have over their neighbourhoods. Issues around localism, ‘people power’ and the protection – or otherwise – of local shops and services are cropping up in the news on a daily basis.

The exact scope of the planning reforms is yet to become clear, but if the aim is to empower local people to shape the character of the neighbourhood in which they live, street-level issues - like access to local shops and services - will be crucial.

At the same time, Living streets’ reach and influence is growing. We are working with a huge range of partners, decision makers and campaigners to make sure our message is heard. Our neighbourhood Heroes campaign is supported by partners including Age UK, Friends of the earth and neighbourhood and Home Watch, amongst others.

having shops and services locally that you can walk to is important to everyone and vital in creating sustainable communities – without them, many can become isolated and our communities lose their heart.

Living streets is the national charity that stands up for pedestrians. With our supporters we work to create safe, attractive and enjoyable streets, where people want to walk.

04

1007

03 • Letter from our Chief executive06 • Keep them close, don’t watch them close08 • Taking action in the north east09 • Meet our neighbourhood heroes11 • Holy Trinity Primary school has the WoW factor12 • Creating walking friendly neighbourhoods in Glasgow13 • Get walking with My Living streets14 • Help us stand up for walking friendly neighbourhoods

Tony armstrong, Chief executive

04 • Policy and Campaigning04 05Policy and Campaigning •

Street Life spring/summer 2011 Street Life spring/summer 2011

STREET PaRTy fEVER ‘GRIPS ThE NaTION’

Last year, Living streets joined forces with streets Alive, The Big Lunch, sustrans and London Play to write to the secretary of state for Transport asking to clear up confusion around street party organisation in time for the Royal Wedding in April. We also encouraged local people to write to their MP and ask them to put pressure on the department for Transport to withdraw or amend the confusing and unnecessary advice.

Following our campaign, in February 2011, Ministers Philip Hammond and eric Pickles announced that they were going to cut Whitehall red tape in order to make it easier for local communities to hold street parties to celebrate the big day.

On 29 April, the UK saw the largest number of people to hold a street party since 1981. The Local Government Association announced that it had received 5,500 applications for road closures (or, as we prefer, ‘street openings’), with thousands of other street parties which didn’t require permission taking place across the country.

The Big Lunch, an eden Project initiative, which encourages people across the UK to have lunch with their neighbours on sunday 5 June, said the appetite for street parties had a huge impact on planned events. Organisers reported a huge increase in sign-ups following the royal wedding. Big Lunch campaign ambassador Lynda Bellingham said: “The royal wedding helped to bring street party get-togethers to the forefront and now street party fever seems to have gripped the nation. People are realising how much fun these types of events can be and how positive and long lasting the effects of getting to know their neighbours are. As a result, we saw many people registering to host a Big Lunch over the royal wedding weekend with an overall increase of 77 per cent of registrations compared to this time last year.”

5,500 applications for road closures on 29 April were received

Many street parties feature party games and entertainment

A Royal Wedding street party in London

as we have been encouraging everyone to celebrate their local communities it’s great that 2011 has also been the year of the ultimate neighbourhood celebration: the street party.

Phot

o: s

arah

Leg

ge

not sure where to start in organising your own street party? The Big Lunch www.thebiglunch.co.uk and streets Alive www.streetsalive.org.uk are great places to start.

07

Street Life spring/summer 2011

06 • Better Environments

Street Life spring/summer 2011

06 Policy and Campaigning •

KEEP ThEM CLOSE, dON’T WaTCh ThEM CLOSE

CREaTING a GOOd PEdESTRIaN ENVIRONMENT

Viv’s experience helped inspire Living streets’ neighbourhood Heroes campaign. As the english planning system gets revamped, Living streets is campaigning for walking-friendly streets and neighbourhoods to be top priority across the UK so that walking is the natural choice for accessing shops and services.

Currently, some buildings can have their use changed – for instance, from a bank to a betting shop – without planning permission, leaving communities without much say in the mix of local shops and services. We need to persuade the government to give communities more power in their upcoming review to ensure that shops and services are representative of what local people want.

The government is also creating a national Planning Policy Framework to help councils draw up local plans. They want to reduce the existing hundreds of pages of guidance, hopefully making the system more understandable. Living streets recently met officials from the department of Communities and Local Government to argue that national planning policy must recognise people’s need to walk to local shops and services.

England’s small county towns and large villages are home to around 11 million people, over one fifth of the population. They vary greatly in their histories, characters and functions. They may be poor, rich, inland, seaside, picturesque, essentially industrial or, more likely, post industrial. Many are commuter towns.

Recently the Commission for Rural Communities reported that small and market towns are hit hardest by unemployment and shop closures, and often this downturn has been very difficult to overcome.

Traditional town centres increasingly face competition from out of town shopping and the internet, and must find ways to encourage people back onto their high streets. A key step to achieving this is making them more attractive, safe, and accessible to a range of users. Many towns have explored options to pedestrianise all or part of their main shopping zones. If implemented appropriately, this way of reducing motor traffic can ensure a safer and more people-friendly environment, releasing space for facilities such as market stalls.

A proposal within the Localism Bill related to neighbourhood Planning would enable people to shape plans for towns, or neighbourhoods, including setting out land-use aspirations, as part of the statutory planning system. Action for Market Towns has helped towns for over 10 years to develop Community Led Plans including successful pedestrian friendly actions. now is a good time to initiate or review pedestrianisation plans for your town.

When I lived in an area which had a baker, corner shop and polling station within a couple of minutes’ walk, I would walk there, and talk to and acknowledge people as I went. now I just tend to do shopping on my way from work. I go behind my front door and only go out again if I really have to. Viv, Worcestershire

Pedestrian-friendly solutions need not be complex or costly. Public seating, improved CCTV, attractive signage, bicycle parking and floral displays can simply, yet effectively, make public spaces more appealing to residents, shoppers and visitors.

This summer is a vital opportunity to ensure that the planning system has pedestrians at its heart. Join the campaign and spread the word at www.livingstreets.org.uk/heroes

Alison eardley is the Policy Manager at Action for Market Towns – if you would like to find out more about how your town might benefit from and develop a neighbourhood Plan, please contact Alison.eardley@towns.org.uk www.towns.org.uk

Get Walking • 0909• Local Campaigning

TaKING aCTION IN ThE NORTh EaST

Living Streets Local Groups make change happen. you don’t have to be a full time volunteer to join or have experience of campaigning; we encourage everyone interested in our agenda to join us and help create safe, attractive and enjoyable streets.

Colin Green, chair of the Tyneside Area Living streets Group tells us about his Local Group in the north east.

Tell us about the Tyneside area Living Streets Group. Living streets Tyneside Area Group was launched in February 2011. We were previously known as the northumbria Branch and have now decided to focus on a smaller geographical area. The Tyneside Area Group will build on our past successes and continue to campaign for the changes that are needed to improve public open spaces and conditions for walking.

how important are walking friendly neighbourhoods in your area? Walking friendly neighbourhoods are of course a vital part of the Living streets vision for safe, attractive, and enjoyable streets where people want to walk.

We have successfully campaigned for 20mph limits in many parts of our area, and we feel that it is now time to consolidate these gains by encouraging broader improvements to local environments. We are concentrating on areas near to Tyne and Wear Metro stations, a shopping area in a traditional street in the east end of newcastle and Town centres in north Tyneside such as Tynemouth, Whitley Bay and Wallsend.

MEET OUR NEIGhbOURhOOd hEROES

Living Streets has been campaigning to keep local shops and services within walking distance. but why are walking-friendly neighbourhoods so important?

Meet Trevor and Christine. They agreed to take us on a local tour and show us why they value their walking-friendly neighbourhood in Pimlico, London – and we made a film all about it, which you can watch at www.livingstreets.org.uk/heroes.

Christine finds that being able to walk everywhere means there’s a real sense of community where they live. “I love the fact I can walk to supermarkets and just walk home,” she says.

We meet Jonathan, Trevor and Christine’s fishmonger. He thinks it would affect the community greatly if people weren’t able to walk to shops and services. “You see people meeting up here, bumping into each other

– it’s a focal point. People would be much more insular.”

Trevor and Christine also took us to visit their local library. “A library provides all the facilities, and the opportunity of meeting people, but also with this particular library they hold classes too,” says Trevor. But not everyone is so lucky: a recent YouGov survey commissioned by Living streets found that one third of British adults can’t walk to their local library. And that number could grow substantially under the threat of cuts, as Luigi, Trevor and Christine’s librarian, told us. “The fear is that the service they provide at the moment will be lost for generations, and we might not be able to get them back.”

If having local shops and services within walking distance matters to you, please join our campaign. Take part at www.livingstreets.org.uk/heroes

Colin Green and Bronwen Fitchett at work at the newcastle Citizens’ Assembly

Trevor and Christine showed us around their walking friendly neighbourhood

08

Living streets Tyneside Area Group meetings are held at Gateshead Civic Centre on the second Monday of each month except August. All are welcome. For more information, please visit www.livingstreets.org.uk/tyneside not in Tyneside? If you are interested in starting a local group, or want to see if there is one in your area, log on to www.livingstreets.org.uk/localgroups

Luigi, the local librarian, is worried if we lose our libraries, we may not get them back

Jonathan, Trevor and Christine’s local fishmonger

Street Life spring/summer 2011 Street Life spring/summer 2011

1010

Street Life spring/summer 2011 Street Life spring/summer 2011

1010 11Walk to School • 11• Walk to School

GETTING IN ThE WaLKING habIT

hOLy TRINITy PRIMaRy SChOOL haS ThE WoW faCTOR

Living Streets’ Walk to School campaign continues to have a real impact on family health and wellbeing. Our research shows that many children report increased fitness levels and a greater understanding of the benefits of walking after taking part.

This year, we’ll help over 1.6 million primary and secondary school children to get walking with WoW (Walk once a Week), Walk to school Week in May and Walk to school Month in October. We’re now working directly with 6,400 schools and WoW is now available to everyone in the country, as parents whose schools aren’t participating can order special Parents’ Packs and take part at home. Visit www.walktoschool.org.uk for more information.

The positive impact of Walk to school campaign makes it all the more important that it continues to be promoted far and wide. Why not get your local school involved this year and help even more families to set their feet free?

A primary school in stockton on Tees is celebrating after making huge improvements in the levels of walking to school. Holy Trinity Rosehill Primary school joined the WoW scheme in september 2010 with only 50% of children walking to school; this has since increased to 96% of children walking at least once a week. In addition to launching the scheme, they also developed a Park and stride scheme which has enabled parents to park their cars away from the school and walk the final part of the journey.

Headteacher stuart Jones said: “The increase in children walking to school is fantastic, and one of the biggest plus points of the scheme for me is the improved social interaction between the children. I see children talking to each other, children talking to parents and parents talking to teachers on the walk to school.”

Holy Trinity Pupils Park and stride to school

WoW participants at Wigton Infant school Cumbria with mascot strider

You can interact and teach your child things they can’t learn while sat in a traffic jam. Annemarie, Guildford

Walking with the children is a great way to connect, to chat about their day and to discover new things. – I now have a four-year-old who loves nature and probably knows more about the neighbourhood birds than I do! susan, stoke

At the end of a brisk twenty-minute walk to school, my son is full of life, bright-eyed and raring to go Charlotte, sutton

For more information and to get involved, please visit www.walktoschool.org.uk

12 • Better Environments12 13Better Environments •

Street Life spring/summer 2011 Street Life spring/summer 2011

CREaTING WaLKING fRIENdLy NEIGhbOURhOOdS IN GLaSGOWLiving streets has been helping Glasgow City Council planners, councillors and local residents to develop a more walking-friendly neighbourhood in the east end. Calton is close to the heart of the Merchant City, Barras Market and Glasgow Green and its long history is celebrated in a heritage trail. It is also strategically located on a key route to the Clyde Gateway and venues for the Commonwealth Games 2014.

The Community street Audit provided an opportunity for local people to identify the priorities and issues for particular streets and spaces, whilst also building partnerships to move the Local development Framework forward. The audit showed the potential to create a highly walkable neighbourhood if the quality of the walking experience can be improved, as it has small local shops and bus stops within 400m walk.

Lindsay Pratt, senior Planner said, “The response to the street audit has been positive and we have obtained funding to deliver street improvements in the area. The final report is proving a very useful document for attracting funding and justifying spend in the area.”

The Calton Community street Audit was funded as part of the equally Well Glasgow City Test site, which is focusing on current planning projects that have the potential to integrate health and wellbeing into planning practices.

For more information about Community street Audits and other ways Living streets can help create better walking environments, please contact Annabel swanston, annabel.swanston@livingstreets.org.uk

The snP scottish Government, re-elected on 5 May, is committed to continuing equally Well, the strategy for tackling health inequalities. The government also has other priorities that Living streets is keen to see happen: integration of physical activity into people’s everyday lives through the obesity strategy; a Community empowerment and Renewal Bill; a new Town Centre Regeneration Fund, and cutting the drink-driving limit with new devolved powers.

For more information about Living streets’ work in scotland, please contact Keith Irving, keith.irving@livingstreets.org.uk

This May, Living streets teamed up with social enterprise Walk england to promote walking and help people enjoy their streets by launching the first national Walking Month. Bringing together Living streets’ popular annual events Walk to Work Week (9-13 May) and Walk to school Week (16-20 May), the event helped people across the UK walk their way to a happier, healthier lifestyle.

One of the ways we encouraged people walk more was by launching a new online tool My Living streets (www.mylivingstreets.org.uk). People can log their steps, miles or minutes walked, see how many muffins they’ve burned or how much CO2 they’ve saved. You can also compete with colleagues or friends and family.

For Walk to Work Week there was a range of challenges on the site to encourage workplaces to get some healthy competition going. Over 1000 organisations took up the challenge, walking around 60,000 miles in total over the week with some fierce competition to see who could walk the most. Living streets threw the gauntlet down to sustrans and the Ramblers in a friendly competition (of course Living streets won!). We also worked with southwark Council to offer a free ‘walk doctor’ to the organisation in southwark that clocked up the most miles.

Chris Rushbrook, who manages our Walk to Work activities, said:“Feedback from Walk to Work Week has been really positive, with lots of people really getting into logging their miles walked. The photo challenges have also been very popular, and it’s been great seeing all the pictures popping up in the activity feeds – some of the “Ministry of silly Walks” images have had me laughing out loud in the office!”

Community street Audit participants

The homepage of My Living streets, our new online tool

GET WaLKING WITh My LIVING STREETS

I thought I would be tired and lethargic after such a long walk, but to be honest, once I get to work I feel really fresh and awake. I must admit that the experience this week has spurred me into walking more often. Tony, Participant

You can log your miles and take challenges on My Living streets throughout the year. sign up today: www.mylivingstreets.org.uk. To find walking events in your local area, please visit www.walk4life.info

14 • Support Us14

Street Life spring/summer 2011

Instruction to your Bank or Building Society to pay by Direct Debit

Please fill in the whole form including official use box using a ball point pen and send it to:

Service User Number (SUN)

2 5 0 0 8 8

Freepost RSAY BXAK KSBK Living Streets (The Pedestrians Assoc.) 4th Floor Universal House 88-94 Wentworth Street London E1 7SA

Name(s) of Account Holder(s)

Bank/Building Society account number

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY This is not part of the instruction to your Bank or Building Society.

Important – Please complete these details:

Account Holder(s) Name & Address:

Name:

Address:

Postcode:

Email Address:

Branch Sort Code

Name and full postal address of your Bank or Building Society To: The Manager Bank/Building Society

Instruction to your Bank or Building Society Please pay PSL re Living Streets Direct Debits from the account detailed in this Instruction subject to the safeguards assured by the Direct Debit Guarantee. I understand that this Instruction may remain with PSL re Living Streets and, if so, details will be passed electronically to my Bank/Building Society.

Address Signature(s)

Postcode Date

Reference Number

Banks and Building Societies may not accept Direct Debit Instructions from some types of account

Please return this form to: LIVING STREETS, FREEPOST, RSAY BXAK KSBK If you would rather make a donation by credit card, please phone: 020 7377 4900 or, if you prefer, send a cheque payable to ‘Living Streets’ to the above address.

hELP US STaNd UP fOR WaLKING fRIENdLy NEIGhbOURhOOdS

as a charity, Living Streets’ work is truly independent. We call upon local and national governments to act on issues like protecting walking-friendly neighbourhoods.

Our campaigning work relies on donations to make a big impact. To keep the pressure on we need your support.

How a small donation can go a big way to help improve our streets:

• £3 a month – allows us to set up and support urgent petitions to campaign for issues like 20mph speed limits.

• £10 a month – pays for us to work with planning professionals to make sure pedestrians are at the heart of developments.

• £15 a month – means a policy expert can attend government meetings calling for safer, uncluttered streets.

simply fill in the form on the next page or visit www.livingstreets.org.uk/donate, and we’ll make sure your concerns are heard by the right people.

Our supporters can help us campaign for walking friendly neighbourhoods

I care about my street and would like to make a direct debit contribution of: £3 per month OR my preferred amount of £.......... per month/year.

I would like payments to be taken from my account on: ................./...................../........................(please make start date at least a month from today)

If you are a UK taxpayer you can add Gift Aid to your donation which means Living Streets will receive an additional 28p from the government for every point you give at no cost to you.

Please treat this donation as gift aid

your details:Title: ................. Forename: ................................................ Surname: ...................................................Date of birth: ............../............../.............. Telephone number: ...........................................................Email: ..............................................@.............................................. Tick this box to not receive monthly e-news

Instruction to your bank or building Society to pay by direct debit

Instruction to your bank or building society to pay by Direct Debit

Please fill in the whole form including official use box using a ball point pen and send it to: Service user number

Reference

Living Streets (The Pedestrian Association)4th FloorUniversal House88-94 Wentworth HouseLondonE1 7SA

FOR LIVING STREETS OFFICIAL USE ONLY This is not part of the instruction to your bank or building society.

Specify amount:

I wish to donate £3.00 per month I wish to donate my specified amount of £___ each year / month*

*Delete as appropriate

Make your gift worth more at no extra cost to you.

If you’re a UK taxpayer, we can reclaim approximately 28p from the taxman for every £1 you give.

Yes! I am a UK tax payer and I would like to treat all subscriptions and donations I have made as Gift Aid donations until I notify you otherwise.

Signed: ________________________________ Date: __________

(To qualify for Gift Aid, what you pay in UK income tax or capital gains tax must at least equal the amount Living Streets will claim in the tax year.)

Living Streets is collecting your personal details to provide you with the service you have requested. We would like to contact you in future to provide you with details on our work to create safe and enjoyable streets, including sending you our monthly enews. We will not pass your details on to any third parties. Please tick here if you do not want to receive this information.

Bank/building society account number

Branch sort code

Name and full postal address of your bank or building society To: The Manager Bank/building society

Instruction to your bank or building society Please pay PSL re Living Streets Direct Debits from the account detailed in this Instruction subject to the safeguards assured by the Direct Debit Guarantee. I understand that this Instruction may remain with LivingStreets and, if so, details will be passed electronically to my bank/building society.

Address Signature(s)

etaD edoctsoP

Banks and building societies may not accept Direct Debit Instructions for some types of account

Name(s) of account holder(s)

DDI3

Account Holder(s) Name & Address

Name:

Address:

Postcode:

Email address:

The Direct Debit GuaranteeThis Guarantee is offered by all banks and building societies that accept instructions to pay Direct Debits.

If there are any changes to the amount, date or frequency of your Direct Debit PSL re Living Streets will notify you 5 working daysin advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed. If you request PSL re Living Streets to collect a payment,

confirmation of the amount and date will be given to you at the time of the request.

If an error is made in the payment of your Direct Debit, by PSL re Living Streets or your bank or building society, you are entitled to a full and immediate refund of the amount paid from your bank or building society.

If you receive a refund you are not entitled to, you must pay it back when PSL re Living Streets asks you to.

You can cancel a Direct Debit at any time by simply contacting your bank or building society. Written confirmation may be required.Please also notify us.

5 0 0 8 8 2

This guarantee should be detached and retained by the Payer.

Support Living Streets

This newsletter is printed on fSC paper. Living streets (The Pedestrians Association) is a Registered Charity no. 1108448 (england and Wales) and sC039808 (scotland), Company Limited by Guarantee (england & Wales), Company Registration no. 5368409. Registered office 4th Floor, Universal House, 88-94 Wentworth street. e1 7sA

daTES fOR yOUR dIaRyLove Parks Week, 23-31 July 2011

European Mobility Week, 16-22 september

International Walk to School Month, October 2011

show how much you love your local parks by getting out and celebrating national Love Parks Week, which takes place between saturday 23 and sunday 31 July 2011, coinciding with the first week of the summer holidays. For more information including events happening during the week, please visit www.loveparksweek.org.uk

16-22 september is european Mobility Week, when cities across europe will encourage residents to ditch the car and choose to walk, cycle or use public transport. Living streets will be working with partners across the UK to help get people celebrate their streets. To find out more, please contact Annabel swanston, annabel.swanston@livingstreets.org.uk

October is International Walk to school Month, and UK pupils will be joining their counterparts around the world to highlight the benefits of regular walking. To find out more and to get your school involved, visit www.walktoschool.org.uk