Streets for People - What is it all about?

Overview

Our Streets for People strategy sets out a bold vision and a firm commitment to improve our residents' quality of life, by changing how we all travel and use streets in our borough.

Southwark is facing significant social, environmental and health challenges. We have already seen how these are impacting the daily lives of our residents. We have heard from people in Southwark, and we know we need to act on climate change, air and noise pollution, as well as our mental and physical health. Transport, and how we choose to travel, is key to how we address these challenges.

Streets for People supports:

• Cleaner air
• Safer and quieter streets with less traffic and fewer accidents
• Healthy travel options like walking, cycling or wheeling
• Greener, and more pleasant spaces for our communities to connect and socialise
• A better place for all who live, work, study and visit here

Our Vision:

Southwark will be a clean, green and safe borough.

We will reclaim space for our communities to connext and socialise; for safe and healthy journeys; a thriving local economy and our natural world. 

Fewer cars, vans and lorries will lead to better air quality and a healthier environment.

Our Pledges:

By 2030 we promise:-

• Your home will be within 200m of a safe and pleasant walking route.
• Your local school will have a School Street or other new safety measures.
• Your bike will have a place in a cycle hangar within six months of applying.
• Your neighbourhood will have parking spaces for cycles, e-bikes, hire cars, electric vehicles and disabled parking.
• Your street will have improvements to make it cleaner, greener and safer, chose by you.

You can read the full strategy, including lots of details about how we aim to achieve these pledges, here: Streets for People Strategy Document

Our Year of Community Conversations

We will be carrying out a year of community conversations, throught till Spring 2024. A major part of this will be finding out what you want on your streets and in your neighbourhood. Look out for ways to get involved on this site.

Throughout the year you can respond to our online survey 'What do you want in your neighbourhood?' which has detailed questions about where you live and how we can apply the pledges above.

We will also be publishing specific surveys about our walking, cycling and electric vehicle plans, as well as our plans for climate change resilience in Southwark.

And there will also be activity packs for schools, opportunities to join in focus meetings and news about walking and cycling projects across the borough.