Wednesday 14 November 2007

Loss of space

Today's news:

There are now three times more cars than children in the UK says a report commissioned by Play England. The disappearance of places where children can play demands a "robust and urgent response", says the report.

The report calls for a hotline to identify anti-social adults who obstruct children from playing outside. "With cars outnumbering children by three to one, the acceleration of house building, and the privatisation of public space, places once used by young people for playing and exploring rites of childhood are quickly being swallowed up," says the report's co-author, Celia Hannon.

Anti-social adults who obstruct children from playing outside? Sounds like a perfect description of the highway engineers/transport planners of the London Borough of Waltham Forest, who have always regarded pavements as the perfect place to park motor vehicles and who year after year add to the total of streets exempted from the pavement parking ban. With results like this:




















Byron Road E17.