March 19, 2018 11.57 am This story is over 72 months old

Council looks at new initiative to let the children play in the streets

Play streets scheme would close off roads to let children play.
Play Streets was first launched in Bristol in 2011.

Streets in Grimsby and Cleethorpes could be closed off to let children play under council plans.

North East Lincolnshire Council is proposing to introduce ‘play streets’, a scheme which closes streets in the borough off for a set period of time in order to let children play outside supervised.

Local residents would still have access to their properties but ordinary traffic would be stopped on chosen streets.

Now, the council will discuss plans to launch a pilot of the scheme in North East Lincolnshire.

Play Streets was launched in Bristol in 2011 by Playing Out Community Interest Company, a non-profit organisation based in the city.

Councillor David Watson, portfolio holder for energy and environment, said: “Play Streets is growing movement across the UK that promotes ‘playing out’ as a way of increasing physical activity in children and also strengthening community relationships.

“A street is closed to traffic for a specified time and children are free to play without worrying about passing cars.

“People still have vehicle access to their homes with stewards supervising the road closure at all times.

“The overriding principle is that the sessions are run by the community for the community.

“If the play streets pilot goes ahead, the main costs are for the road closure signage kits and we would look into external sources of funding to cover this.”