The Big Smoke

If this summer you peek out the front door one day and find there’s a party going on in your street, don’t worry about your sanity – or your neighbours. Street Play, a lottery-funded project intent on getting children to play outside, is organising 100 street parties across the capital over the next three years. Cars will make way for egg-and-spoon races, storytelling and wine tasting (for the adults). Alfresco fun is making a comeback. The next event takes place this bank holiday Monday in Croydon. Others are planned for Barnet, Lambeth, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Islington and Greenwich. They are private parties, but if you are keen Street Play will help organise one for your street.‘

Motorists think the street is theirs,’ says Paul Hocker, co-ordinator of Street Play. ‘Even 30 years ago, when I was growing up, not everyone had cars and we all played outside. In the 1950s, 200 London streets had kerbs painted apple green and were closed to traffic so children could play between 8am and sunset. The legislation that gives the local authorities the power to restrict traffic and create these Play Streets is still active, so a council could do this tomorrow if residents shouted loud enough.’

Until the 1970s, local communities in London would often arrange impromptu outdoor knees-ups for national celebrations. Now, dates must be agreed in advance, and some boroughs charge a fee. But Hocker is determined. The initiative launched in May 2008 with a street party in Streatham and more took place throughout the summer.One party in Waltham Forest was held outside Hocker’s home and he can see the benefits. ‘People on our road didn’t speak to each other before, now you get neighbours saying hello in the morning because of the party,’ he says.

The principle aim of the project is to promote outside play. According to Play England (a national organisation promoting play), 71 per cent of adults played outside when they were children, compared with only 21 per cent of kids today. Yet a 2006 survey reported that 86 per cent of children prefer to play outdoors than in the home. Street Play even produce ‘Play Priority Area’ signs to counteract the ubiquitous ‘No Ball Games’ notices.

Hocker points out that while perceived ‘stranger danger’ discourages parents, it remains unsupported by statistics. ‘There are important benefits to playing out,’ he says. ‘Apart from the social aspects, children become more street-savvy and are more aware of traffic from an early age.’Hocker is hoping to wind up his partyfest with a bang in May 2011: Street Play is negotiating with the Mayor’s office to host an ‘all-London street party’ in Trafalgar Square. ‘Street parties have an iconic place in London’s popular culture,’ says Hocker, ‘and cars have the road for 365 days a year. It’s only fair we take one back.’