Roads across London could soon be closed to cars to allow children to play safely in the streets, after London Play was awarded £350,000 of funding from the Big Lottery.
London Play will use the money to help less-affluent communities roll out play streets across the Capital over the next three years. A Play Street closes off the road to traffic for a few hours a week or month to enable children to play in the street.
London Play development manager, Paul Hocker, said: ‘Londoners want to get more out of their streets than just exhaust fumes and pot holes.
‘Children haven’t changed but the culture around streets has, rendering former social spaces into no-go areas. Children have a right to be an active, visible part of their community. They are natural networkers - turning next door strangers into next door neighbours.’
The London Play Streets project will help12 boroughs develop play streets and provide young people the opportunity to become play street advocates in their communities.
The London Borough of Hackney was one of the first councils to trial play streets in London back in 2012.