Streets should be safe for everyone including children! Playstreets, Bike buses, Bikeability, School Streets, independent travel, Kidical Mass.
Play Street Campaign Aims
This campaign aims to develop a process that any community in the Highlands can use to apply to the Highland Council to have a Play Street on their own street.
We are currently working towards a regular Play Street on Charles Street in Inverness, along with Crown Connects.
What is a Play Street?
A Play Street is a resident-led event where a suitable residential street is closed to traffic for, say, 3 hours on a weekend morning, so that children can play freely and families and neighbours can socialise. It is a low cost intervention which can deliver multiple benefits in terms of supporting the mental and physical health of children and families, tackling climate change, supporting community connection and tackling isolation, and offering a re-imagining of how we use and move about in our public spaces.
At these events children are accompanied and parents / guardians are fully responsible for them. Residents can access the street by vehicle if they need to, at walking pace with an escort and with parents and organisers supervising the children while they wait on the pavement. Emergency vehicle access continues. Other traffic finds alternatives via routes and signage approved by Officers.
Suitable locations for PlayStreet events are quiet residential streets with simple diversions. Unsuitable locations are busy streets, streets with a bus route, and streets where there are no obvious diversions and requests for PlayStreets would not be approved for such locations.
For more information on Play Streets see Playing Out the national organisation that promotes Play Streets
Whats Happening?
Residents of Charles Street, Inverness will run a 3 pilot Play Street sessions in late 2024 and early 2025.
Members may remember the one-off event in Charles Street last September which was well attended, well supported by residents and had no negative feedback to organisers.
In May 2024 members of the Economy and Infrastructure Committee voted to adopt the new Active Travel Strategy. This Strategy includes a commitment to support communities to run Play Streets projects, beginning with a pilot and, from evaluation of that, developing a standard application system for Highland.
Officers from The Highland Council’s Active Travel, Road Safety and Roads teams are involved.
These events will be monitored by Council officers and if they run smoothly then permission for further events is likely be granted.
Play Streets require a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order (TTRO).
There has to date been some officer resource required for processing the TTRO and for advising on / providing traffic management and in funding signage. These are pilot events and will be used to develop a standard process for applications. The resource required depends on the agreed process, which has to be accessible to residents as well as affordable for the Council.
Get Involved!
If you’d like to help you can join the Streets for Kids Campaign Team, maybe even run a play street where you live. Contact Us