Roads and traffic

Some residents hold street parties to highlight the problems of traffic and parking in their street. Some think about taking action about it having enjoyed their street without traffic for a day.

Parked and moving vehicles make the street unfriendly. Research has shown that the more cars there are in the street, the less neighbours know each other. Street parties can counter the tendency for people to be anonymous, retreating behind their front doors.

Some advice from Streets Alive:

You may want some form of traffic calming. The best ways are with reducing speed by narrowing the road, chicanes, and/or speed cushions. 20mph signs alone do not work well as they not enforced. Whether you succeed in persuading your council depends on how bad your street is, whether there have been accidents as well as politics and luck of the draw on highways team budget.

Planting trees (with small leaves) in large tubs or in the ground soften the look of the street and breaks up the sightline of drivers. The problem will be underground utilities like the sewers.

The only way to deal with parking by non-residents is with a Residents Parking Permit Scheme as part of a Controlled Parking Zone. This is only possible over wide area and will involve paying £50-100 per year and so most residents would have to be behind it.

Parking on pavements, on corners or across entrances is illegal but it is a low priority for the police to take action on this obstruction due - persistence is needed. It is not the council's responsibility where there are no yellow lines.

You can reduce parking by residents in the street by sharing a car with a neighbour. See our Guide

Some lucky towns such as Portsmouth, Hull and Peterborough are having all residential streets to become 20mph. See 20's Plenty For Us

A home zone is where the structure of the street is changed a lot and at high cost. The legal definition of this is complex and so you are unlikely to achieve this. However, the ideas can inspire your design of traffic calming. See www.homezones.org.uk

For creative ideas for promoting traffic calming in communities in Oxford see Road Witch Project

For more help in dealing with traffic and parking in your street contact the following:

The Campaign for Better transport does just that: www.bettertransport.org.uk

Living Streets at www.livingstreets.org.uk

Children's Play Council at www.ncb.org.uk/cpc/

Contact us about dealing with traffic in your street linked to a street party.

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