How to Organise a Play Street
Written by George Coombs, Senior Community Projects Lead at Groundwork Greater Manchester
What is a play street?
Play Streets are community-led short road closures, that reclaim the space on a road for people rather than cars. They provide more room for activities, games, and street events when the road is closed to through-traffic; usually meaning only residents who live on the closed-off road can enter whilst the Play Street is happening. Any other traffic will have to travel a different way whilst the Play Street is happening.
Groundwork Greater Manchester had the pleasure of supporting two Play Streets with the Our Streets Chorlton project in September 2021. Both Play Streets were in the Chorlton area but had very different events organised, based on the interest and desire of local neighbours. Play Streets are great ways for children and families to come together and ‘play out’, changing the road landscape to be an assault course, football pitch or even a 10m long dance matt. Equally, a Play Street doesn’t have to be just for children; it can be a space for bringing neighbours together to share food, conversations, and a bit of laughter as well. It’s a perfect opportunity to get to know people who you may have never really spoken to.
Why should my community host a play street?
A Play Street is a perfect way to reimagine who our streets are designed for. Once we take away traffic, move our cars off the street and create room for conversation & play, we get to see the space outside of our homes in an entirely different way.
To start off with, Play Streets are a great event; an opportunity to bring everyone together and have a fantastic time. Maybe a street party, an afternoon games tournament with all of the local families or a themed event to coincide with a national holiday. They’re relatively easy to organise and the reward is huge.
It’s also a lovely moment for you and your neighbours to celebrate your street! It doesn’t have to be for a big event, it could be a simple Saturday that you want to rebrand as the ‘Annual Street Party’. It’s a perfect way to get to know your neighbours who you may have only spoken to in passing.
It’s also fit for all ages and shouldn’t just be about families. If you don’t have any children on your road, how about asking your neighbours if they wanted to organise a food festival? Maybe get some speakers for an afternoon of dancing? The ideas are endless.
How do I get started?
The best starting point would be to head to your local district council’s website to see what information they have on Play Streets. Most councils in the Greater Manchester area have policies and a structured process on Play Streets. You can find all of that information in the Local Guidance section below.
Next, get knocking on some doors and posting in the street WhatsApp. Chat to your neighbours about the idea and see if people are up for a lovely Play Street/Street Party/Community Festival. It’s always best to have a few simple responses ready to the generic questions you may get asked e.g. “How long is the road closure for?”… “Can I get in and out?”… “Does it cost anything?”
Here’s some information below to help you out with those questions:
Some of the things you may get asked – and the answers!
- A Play Order is a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) issued by a district City Council that enables residents to legally close a residential road to through traffic for a short period of a few hours to allow street play, physical activity or promote clean air.
- Councils advise that Play Streets are only organised on quieter streets, such as residential streets off main roads, or even cul-de-sacs to reduce risk of disruption. Busy roads that have large volumes of traffic are usually rejected and only approved on special circumstances.
- If a Play Street is due to affect local shops or businesses, it’s best to have a chat to see if they’re happy. Get them involved! Can they put on a stall or activity to promote their business?
- We suggest that you start planning your Play Street activity from 4-6 weeks in advance of when you want it to happen as applications usually take at least 4 weeks of time to process. Councils want to make Play Streets an easy process, so you’ll most likely be contacted if things needed to be confirmed.
- Play Streets should not cost local people anything but you can check that detail in the Local Guidance section below.
Useful Resources
Play Out is a fantastic organisation that gathers resource for Play Streets across England. They held a webinar to provide full detail on how local people and/or community groups can organise their own Play Streets, which can be viewed here:
PLAYING OUT INSPIRATIONAL FILMS
PlayDay is an organised national Play Street.
Living Streets are an active organisation who have lots of great ideas and programmes.
Guidance and resource from TfGM can be found here.
Local guidance
Bolton
Currently has no Play Street policy nor guidance on their website. Although, Bolton City Council do have an active Walking and Cycling community forum where such discussions may take place:
Bury
Currently has no Play Street policy nor guidance on their website. We would advise you contact their general communication channels.
Manchester
The full policy and step-by-step guidance on Play Street can be found here:
Oldham
The full policy and application process for a Play Street can be found here:
OLDHAM COUNCIL PLAY STREETS APPLICATION
Oldham Council have teamed up with the charity Oldham Play Action Group to support more Play Streets across the borough:
Rochdale
Currently has no Play Street policy nor guidance on their website. We would advise you contact their general communication channels.
Salford
The full policy and application process for a Play Street can be found here:
Salford City Council also have an active Walking and Cycling forum. Details can be found here:
SALFORD WALKING AND CYCLING FORUM
Stockport
The full policy and application process for a Play Street can be found here:
STOCKPORT PLAY STREET APPLICATION
Tameside
Tameside Council have recently announced that their Play Street policy and application process will be launched this year, estimated date of the summer period. Details can be found here:
Trafford
Trafford Council currently has no detail nor policy of Play Streets on their website. Although, it is known that Trafford Council and local Cllrs have supported semi-permanent low traffic neighbourhoods in Stretford. Such detail can be evidenced here:
TRAFFORD PLAY STREET SCHEME ROAD CLOSURES
Equally, the below blog on Trafford Council’s website evidences their first Play Street in 2019:
Wigan
Currently has no Play Street policy nor guidance on their website. We would advise you contact their general communication channels.