Councils have had a huge demand for temporary road closures, most of them for neighbours’ street parties.
The Local Government Association survey of councils has revealed that so far they have received about 3500 applications for temporary road closures. Some of these are for public events meaning that most, approximately 3,000, are for small neighbours’ street parties.
This figure is supported by the fact that 1000 people a day are reading this street party website, and there are 3 months yet to go. Many are asking us for our Jubilee Street Quiz.
Last year for the royal wedding there was a total of 5500 formal road closures, though we estimated that there was an equal number of informal street meets held by residents at the last minute.
So as 1 million people had street parties last year Streets Alive estimates that 2-3 million will for this year, especially if people are moved to hold one for the Olympics in August.
Even though in any street there are a wide range of views about the Jubilee itself and the Queen, it is a unique British tradition and so a good excuse for residents to hold a street party. It is a rare chance to meet the neighbours in a traffic-free street and to play with the children.
Whatever their motivations, we hope that this great experience moves people to hold street parties year after year across the whole country as they do in some places like Bristol (with 200 a year), Oxford, Southampton and Brighton.
It has always been Streets Alive’s plan to encourage residents to use street parties to build community spirit at the street level on a mass basis. Also, we are now offering our Neighbours’ Street Play Guide to help build intergenerational relationships based around children’s play.
