From the restoration of a historic burial site to a successful and innovative road safety scheme, the winners of the 2019 Street Design Awards have been revealed.

After running successfully for several decades, the awards were cancelled back in 2014 after funding cuts finally hampered councils’ ability to deliver truly innovative and inspiring public realm schemes.

However, you the readers made it clear there was a strong appetite within the sector to bring the awards back, so this year saw the return of our prestigious competition.

Divided into five categories - Children’s Play, Highways, Pedestrian Environment, Public Lighting and Urban Green Space - the awards celebrate innovation and best practice in street design across the UK.

Our readers did not disappoint and myself and our judges were overwhelmed by the quality of submissions. We saw entries from nearly every corner of Britain, with councils up and down the country keen to promote best practice and highlight the good work they have done.

The winning schemes are:

Urban Green Space

Winner: Muslim War Cemetery Peace Garden, The terra firma Consultancy and Woking Borough Council

Runner-up: Sovereign Square, Leeds City Council and re-form landscape architecture

Highly Commended: Grantham Green, Eastleigh Borough Council

Commended: Mitre Square, City of London Corporation

Children's Play

Winner: Milner Square, Islington LBC

Runner-Up: Godley Gardens, Enable Leisure and Culture

Highly Commended: Golden Lane Estate Playground, City of London Corporation

Commended: Salmon Street Scheme, Tower Hamlets LBC and Project Centre

Pedestrian Environment

Winner: Italian Gardens, North Somerset Council

Runner-up: Keel Square, Sunderland City Council

Public Lighting

Winner: Winner: The Golden Spiral, The terra firma Consultancy and Brighton and Hove City Council

Runner-up: Newport Bridge Architectural Lighting, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

Highways

Winner: New Park Road, Sustrans and Lambeth LBC

Our judges - consisting of Play England, the Landscape Institute and the Institution of Lighting Professionals, as well as our sister magazine Highways - kindly gave their time and expertise to make these awards such a success.

We would like to say a special thank you to Lord Chris Holmes of Richmond MBE who assessed the accessibility of the Pedestrian Environment entries.

The Street Design Awards are once again a regular occurrence so make sure you enter your own scheme next year. Please email l.sharman@hgluk.com to register your interest for next year or for any suggestions for new award categories.

You can visit the Street Design Awards website for further details about the competition.