BackManifesto for safe, attractive and enjoyable streets launched
To mark the end of their 80th birthday year, national charity Living Streets has today launched their manifesto outlining their vision of safe, attractive and enjoyable streets for all.
The state of our streets is something that concerns us all: they are the one public service we all use everyday. Yet with the increase in traffic over the decades, poor planning and design over several decades and anti social behaviour such as pavement cycling or parking, pedestrians are slowly being pushed off our streets. We know that children playing on the street is an increasingly rare sight, and many of us jump in the car for many short journeys. The quality of our streets has a direct impact on our relationships, our quality of life and our activity levels. Living Streets is calling for a debate in the run up to the General Election and has set out a call to action to help local campaigners.
The Living Streets manifesto sets out three points of action to be considered by politicians including:
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A transformation of our towns and cities to ensure that people are prioritised over motor traffic
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Ensure that every child who can walk to school does so
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Walkable streets that are enjoyable for everyone
Living Streets was formed as the Pedestrians Association in 1929. Although our streets were very different places back then, we have campaigned throughout as the national voice for pedestrians. In the early years our campaigning led to the introduction of the driving test, pedestrian crossings and 30mph speed limits. Now our ambition has grown and our manifesto reflects the changes which we believe will transform our streets for the benefit of everyone. Over the past year we have been campaigning for the speed limit to be reduced again to 20mph where we live work and play and have been urging local authorities to redesign their streets in favour of pedestrians.
Tony Armstrong, Chief Executive of Living Streets said:
“In the lead up to a general election, people are thinking a lot about what needs to change across the country. We want to urge all parties to pay attention to what’s happening on their doorsteps.
“Over the past 80 years we have campaigned to put pedestrians first and our message today is every bit as relevant as it was in 1929, if not more so. We have launched a campaign to see 20mph as the standard speed limit where we live, work and play, and we continue to campaign for our streets to be designed for people, not just for motor traffic. We are all pedestrians at some point in the day and we plan to continue our hard work to make that an enjoyable experience, not a traumatic one for people around the UK.
“We believe that the calls in our manifesto can make our streets safe places for children to play; enjoyable and attractive places where we can all walk and enjoy leisure time. Most importantly, we want to bring back that sense of community to our streets.”
You can download our manifesto here.
For more information, please contact Anna Powell, Press Officer on 020 7377 4914 or email anna.powell@livingstreets.org.uk. For any out of hours press enquiries, please call 07545 209 865.
Notes to editors:
Living Streets, celebrating its 80th birthday this year, 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.
We have been the national voice for pedestrians throughout our 80 year history. In the early years, our campaigning led to the introduction of the driving test, pedestrian crossings and 30mph speed limits. Since then our ambition has grown. Today we influence decision makers nationally and locally, run successful projects to encourage people to walk, and provide specialist consultancy services to help reduce congestion and carbon emissions, improve public health, and make sure every community can enjoy vibrant streets and public spaces.
Published on: 08/12/2009
