Playing out in the street. It's the future!

Terrahawk (of this parish) sent me a text earlier telling me to bring the kids to his street to play out.

The residents had asked the council to close the road for 6 hours and they had asked everyone to move their cars out of the way.

The result… kids playing out safely, neighbours out on the street with a brew talking to each other and no cars!

What a brilliant and free idea!

I reckon it’s one of the most important things we’ve lost over the last 30 years and one of the major reasons for some of the problems in our communities.

Definitely the way forward. Impressed the Council signed up to this idea.

It was like being a kid again in 1970s.

Children free to bomb up and down a 70 yard stretch of road on their bikes and scooters, or kick a football without the fear of getting creamed by a passing car.

they had asked everyone to move their cars out of the way.

but then where do all the cars go another street , that deprives the kids the right to play there, we plolayed in the street and cars where there, we respected the neighbours cars, and didnt ned our parents standing watching us play.
But it is nice to see neighbours talking to each other and kids playing, even if it needs to be organised.

The street I used to live in, in Brixton holds a street party every year. We shut the street down to traffic and get the cars to move out of the way (getting permission from the council), put on music, food, kids entertainment, let the kids (and the adults) run around and play.
It went down so well in 2008 when we did it the first time that we’ve done it every year since. I still go back to help out even tho I’ve moved away.

People could do much more of this kind of stuff if they took it upon themselves instead of expecting government to do it. It’s brought the street closer together without a doubt, and this is just an annual thing

Kids from the surrounding streets were there too. There were dozens and dozens of them.

Good stuff.

Spacehopper-tastic! Kerby, three n in, wally…..takes me back

A picture from Terrahawk http://twitter.yfrog.com/z/hwt32vuj

The local fire station even sent down a Nee-Naw to play in.

We are very lucky that we live on a cul de sac. Jnr FD is 3 and plays out on the street nearly every night/weekend with other kids of a similar age and a bit older. Does get the adults out of their houses too talking to each other.

We really, really must move house. Wouldn’t want my (baby) son playing with any of the kids in this street 🙁 Not a crashing snob, just we live in a not-so-nice area and the local kids sit around trying to get their older siblings to buy them White Lightning.

I fondly remember the street where I grew up. There was loads of kids and we had full reign 😀 It was ace!!! I feel sorry for kids nowadays. I go mad at the nutters who seem to think our cul de sac is the perfect place to speed 😯 Child’s face and all that!!

Great idea. Can terra put a word in with Trafford? Sell it as a community idea? Plenty of young kids on our small street

That was ace. Our 3rd street party and the start of something regular we hope. Maybe one afternoon a month to start and see where it leads.

It only took a couple of phone calls and some cooperation between neighbours.
The best thing by far is that due to our street parties we all know each other. Which is nice.

Can terra put a word in with Trafford?

Ask ’em yourself.

I don’t know anyone at trafford council. I’m not the king.

I reckon it’s one of the most important things we’ve lost over the last 30 years and one of the major reasons for some of the problems in our communities.

Along with white dog poo

And hedgehog crisps. And Um Bongo.

You can still get Um Bongo.

Can terra put a word in with Trafford?

Seriously. Talk to the neighbours and if you want to do it phone up the council switchboard and ask for the Highways Department.

My only concern is that playing in the street becomes a planned, you-must-have-permission-and-a-permit process – when it should be everyday…
I am not the only one…
Street play: can you have too much of it?

Every silver lining etc…

You can find negatives in everything if you look hard enough.

Brilliant 🙂

Whilst it is a shame that it needs to be formally arranged it sows the seed of the idea that playing out in the road is a good thing, which brings doing it spontaneously one step closer.

This happens a few streets away and the kids love it.

We’ve lived in or current house for 18 months and have meet or neighbors on both sides. It wasn’t until a car crashed outside a few months ago, and we all rushed out to help, that the other neighbors who’ve lived here for over 10 years each realized that they knew each other from 20 years ago! They live 3 doors away!!

I reckon it’s one of the most important things we’ve lost over the last 30 years..

Yep, yet another quality-of-life factor that has been sacrificed to the mighty car.

My kids and all the other kids play out in the street here. One of the benefits of living in a cul-de-sac.

My kids play out in the cul de sac as often as they can – one resident is a bit of a knob about turning in at speed and has been spoken to by a couple of parents, and one family we would prefer they didn’t play with, but it is great.

I was brought up a pavements width from the A16 trunk road – playing in the street wasn’t much of an option in my 70s childhood!

Kids already play out in our street every day, in Central Reading.. 20mph, speed bumps. It doesn’t need once-in-a-blue-moon closures, it needs motorists to accept that they can’t drive everywhere at the speed they want to.

I played in the street when i was little. Quite literally in fact. I got such a bollocking when someone informed my parents we were riding our bicycles into head on traffic on the wrong side of the road 😯

well done terrahawk!

It is NOT progress to tell kids “you can play out there once a year under strict controls”, any more than the SkyRides do anything in the long term for cycling other than tell people “it’s not safe to cycle except when we shut the road once in a while”.

Fair play to those who organise these, they’re doing the best that’s doable, but we shouldn’t let the powers-that-be off here.

Street parking, and traffic speeds and volumes, especially on residential streets, are a blight on our country.

But I have a car (which I use to go riding) and my Mrs has a car (which she needs to drive to work, not viable on bike or public transport). But there are only 2 adults in our household and we have off street parking.

Our neighbour has 4 adults in the house, they have a car each to go to work.

Our neighbour on the other side has 5 adults, they have a car each to go to work.

Guy across the road has a truck because he’s a landscape gardener, he needs that for his business. He has 2 kids so there’s a family car too. If he parks both on his driveway the truck block in the car, so he parks the truck on the street or verge.

This in a street of 3 bed semis, pretty affluent by the standards of the nation. None of the above are selfish or inconsiderate people.

Who’s going to step up and give up their car?

It’s a tricky one. The land value of the UK handed over to on-street parking must be huge. It’s a VAST subsidy to private motoring.

Cars are the only possession we’re allowed to own without making provision for storing them on our own property, or paying to store them somewhere.

@ormandroyd, true. But the economy gets that back because people can get to work. If the guy with the truck for instance is denied parking for it, there goes the income he uses to support his family.

Part of the problem here is these houses were built in the 30s (like millions over the country) so car ownership & parking on this scale wasn’t considered. But population density is also an issue, I’m fairly sure the the 3 adults one side and 2 the other would prefer not to be living with their parents, at least not all of them.

@mike interesting observation

But the economy gets that back because people can get to work. If the guy with the truck for instance is denied parking for it, there goes the income he uses to support his family.

But many of the other examples you mentioned were people who drive ordinary private cars to work. Do all of them have no other choice? Could they walk, cycle, take a bus? A huge number of car journeys are less than a couple of miles. For the majority of drivers the car is, ultimately, a well subsidised convenience most of the time. The opportunity cost burden of a line of parked cars down the side of a road is very big.

But I have a car (which I use to go riding) and my Mrs has a car (which she needs to drive to work, not viable on bike or public transport).

It’s not a sin to own a car you know, you don’t have to justify it all the time.

you don’t have to justify it all the time.

Correct, but you know, that’s not a bad idea