We want as many people as possible to write to their local council and encourage them to implement a play street policy.

You can find out if your council has a policy in place through the button below, and if they don't, we've drafted the template letter below to make things nice and simple.

Template letter

Dear [INSERT NAME],

I am writing to you regarding ‘Playing Out’ or ‘Play Streets’ – short, resident-led, temporary road closures which enable children to play safely outside their own front doors on a regular basis. As well as giving children the opportunity to be more physically active, play freely, learn vital skills and make friends on their street, this model is proving an effective way of increasing community cohesion and combatting loneliness.

So far, 63 councils across the UK have put a ‘Temporary Play Street’ policy in place, allowing residents to apply for a weekly or monthly play street session, organised and stewarded by neighbours themselves. The former Transport Minister, Michael Ellis, recently wrote to the Chief Executives of all English councils, encouraging them to put a ‘Temporary Play Street’ policy in place and confirming the legal basis for doing so. The Department for Transport published this updated guidance last month (23 August 2019).

British Cycling is currently working alongside Playing Out (the not-for-profit organisation providing free support and information about play streets for parents, residents, councils and community organisations across the UK) to promote play streets as an effective way for children to learn to cycle safely on their doorstep and to help create a cultural shift towards more people-friendly streets.

Please can you tell me whether [COUNCIL] has considered implementing its own play street policy, and if so what stage is this currently at? There is a wealth of information for councils on the Playing Out website, as well as being a free resource that councils can signpost residents to for guidance and support.

It would be wonderful to see more children playing out in the streets of [LOCATION] again, building on the great success seen in many other areas of the country, and I look forward to hearing back from you shortly on your own plans for our area.

Yours,

[NAME]