Cut the Clutter
Poorly-placed bins, A-boards and bike racks. Defunct phone boxes. Excessive signage and railings.
Street clutter clogs up our pavements and makes it hazardous for people to get around.
Our week of action is over for another year - but the fight to protect our pavements continues. Join us.
What you can do
Our calls
What's "clutter"?
Write to your council now
Let your councillor know you want local action. Use our online form to write to them about clutter where you live.
Share our campaign with your friends and family.
Make a note of clutter in your area.
Arrange or join a walkabout with others during the week. To find out more, email localgroups@livingstreets.org.uk
#CutTheClutter on Twitter
Anne in East Dunbartonshire sent us this photograph. She uses a mobility scooter to get around.
— Living Streets (@livingstreets) July 14, 2022
"This is only one example of pavement blocking cases where I live," she says. "You can see their hedge takes up a large area of pavement, then their car blocks it." 1/4#CutTheClutter pic.twitter.com/Br6XvI5s00
📈 Over 1 in 4 of us would walk more if our footways were free from clutter.
— Living Streets (@livingstreets) July 11, 2022
🥇 The biggest blockers? Cars, bins and badly placed signs.
⏲️ Pavements are for people. It's time to #CutTheClutter! https://t.co/U5Tx2NyMJ2
@livingstreets @BATBrighton Springfield Rd not bin day and space to store off pavement….#CutTheClutter #brighton @BrightonHoveCC pic.twitter.com/ANsuHChsMy
— Richard Piggott (@fizzrichard) July 13, 2022
@livingstreets just our usual daily #CutTheClutter in Bristol. Never a clear path in Bishopston, cars, sofas, bins and now skips. No priority for pedestrians around here.. @MarvinJRees @BristolDon pic.twitter.com/dw8ZITV2C3
— Deb (@deborahrdoyle) July 13, 2022
Street clutter like this is a real issue for people with sight loss and vision impairment, but is sadly an everyday occurrence. What street clutter have you come across?
— Guide Dogs Campaigns (@gdcampaigns) July 14, 2022
This photo was taken on my lunch break, and just one example out of many. #CutTheClutter @livingstreets pic.twitter.com/fSm7X3CWrk
"Bins, A-boards, e-scooters, bollards... these really are the same to me as a parked car."
— Living Streets (@livingstreets) July 13, 2022
Here's @KatiePennick of @TransportForAll from last year's #CutTheClutter webinar on the perils clutter poses to disabled people.pic.twitter.com/710OBu6nJY
Hi @_petermason @deirdrecostigan @EalingCustSer @EalingCouncil
— Roly West (@rolywest) July 12, 2022
Lots of obstructions around Northfields and S Ealing, causing potential issues even on wide pavements
What's your view on advertising hoardings across pavements?
Will the council enforce removal?#CutTheClutter pic.twitter.com/bXR7UMwFBx
.@livingstreets is calling on councils to #cuttheclutter by banning A-board advertising, removing excess street furniture or signs, keeping hedges clipped back & ensuring that businesses, charging points or cycle parking on the pavement are placed to maintain a 1.5m width pic.twitter.com/a3Ocl1lNOw
— Bromley Living Streets (@BromleyLS) July 11, 2022
We understand that many (most?) of these postal 'holding boxes' are redundant and our final #CutTheClutter report called for the @RoyalMail to remove them: https://t.co/7RZ4hXHDSf.
— Living Streets Edinburgh (@LivingStreetsEd) July 12, 2022
A good national project for @livingstreets?? 🙂 https://t.co/R9Zjv70KmR
For the rest of this week, I'll be documenting the pavement clutter I encounter out and about in this thread, and encourage you to do the same.
— Sarah 🍓 (@SarahJ_Berry) July 13, 2022
Once you start noticing it, you can't un-see it and you'll probably end up just as pissed off as I am.
Lamp posts and sign posts in the middle of the footway that make it harder to use the pavement in #Biggleswade #CutTheClutter #walking #livingstreets @letstalkcentral pic.twitter.com/QCI8vugLE9
— Biggleswade Living Streets (@BiggleswadeLS) July 12, 2022
"Pavements should be safe spaces for pedestrians not anxiety provoking, dangerous areas where the road is a often as after option to navigate."@gdcampaigns supporter Sam shares her #CutTheClutter story: https://t.co/wSNAK6wSmw pic.twitter.com/a5ctZvX7xG
— Living Streets (@livingstreets) July 14, 2022
advertising boards or signage
Badly-parked cycles or scooters
Outdoor chairs and tables
Plant containers
guard rails
litter bins
disused phoneboxes
badly-placed sign or lampposts
wheelie bins
bollards
electric vehicle chargers
Vehicle charging cables across the footway
And what about?...
Pavement parking
Pavements are for people not vehicles.
Pavement parking, of course, is already something we have campaigned on specifically for decades. And we are winning.
Pavement cycling
Pavement cycling is illegal.
We want to see this rule enforced better - and for roads to be made safer so cyclists never feel the need to use pavements.
We are proud to have our friends Guide Dogs and Transport for All as Cut The Clutter campaign partners this year.
What we want
Living Streets is calling for local authorities to prioritise clearing footways and pavements through measures including (but not limited to):
1. Banning all A-board advertising on the pavement
2. Putting in place plans and budget to remove excess or unused street furniture (eg signs and poles, guard rail and utility boxes or phone boxes)
3. Providing guidance to businesses using pavement space for outdoor entertainment that they must maintain a 1.5m pavement width
4. Ensuring maintenance of trees and hedges that encroach on pavements
5. Making a commitment that EV charging points and cycle storage will only be placed on pavements where 1.5m clearance width for pedestrians can be maintained; where there is insufficient space on the footway road space should be reallocated eg through the use of well-designed build outs.
6. Ensuring that rental e-scooter parking is placed on the carriageway, and not on pavements – there is no need to sacrifice pedestrian space in order to support micromobility.
Work for a council?
Living Streets is already working with local authorities across the country to get people walking more of their local journeys.
Find out how we can help you.
On 30 June 2021, we held a webinar to hear more about the ways people are already tackling clutter they encounter where they live.
You can watch a video of all the speakers including campaigners from Transport For All and Living Streets' Edinburgh and Lambeth groups, plus our campaigns team.
This event prioritised access with BSL interpreting and live captions. *To view the captions click the CC/subtitles button on the video.
Who are our streets for?
One of the speakers in our street clutter webinar was Sarah Berry, Living Streets Trustee and Lambeth Local Group member.
In this blog, Sarah says that shifting the narrative on who our streets are for can lead to ambitious and necessary changes.
Campaign instigators - Edinburgh Living Streets Group
Read our Local Group success story.
How they tackled pavement clutter in Edinburgh and brought the council and the city with them.
Living Streets Manifesto calls for a clutter free future
Find out what we are doing in our five year strategy to end street clutter.
Be a part of our future where pavements are accessible for everyone.
We work with organisations, public sector bodies and companies to improve streets for walking.