Stockport

In keeping with the values and vision of national Living Streets our aim is to bring Stockport's streets to life.  Stockport residents should not experience fear of traffic as they step out of their front door. They should feel safe walking around in the streets where they live. 

This could take the form of campaigning (e.g. '20 Is Plenty'), telling you about bold new ideas (see Naked Streets) but we can also support local residents with information and advice where this will help them achieve improvements in the street where they live.  This requires patience and perseverance but grass never does grow any quicker if you pull on it. Our objectives in short:

• promote walking as a healthy, cheap, environmentally-friendly means of transport & recreation
• promote the social & economic benefits of pedestrian-friendly communities
• work with walkers, pedestrians and cyclists to improve access and conditions
• ensure greater representation of non-motorised road-users concerns in town planning
• raise the profile of walking through outreach and information
• foster consideration for people with special mobility needs

Speed can not only cause accidents, speed can make you a killer. A pedestrian hit by a car at 40 mph has a 95% chance of being killed.  At 30 mph this chance is reduced to 30%, at 20 mph the chances are reduced to 5%.  These figures are not dreamed up, they are the sum total of many deaths, much heartbreak and detailed calculations. But don't take our word for it, take it from those who have already experienced the benefits.  Click HERE for the national campaign website. <more>

Do you know anyone who has NOT expressed concern about the problem of pavement parking?  Obstructing footways with cars and vans causes major problems for anyone in a wheelchair, pushing a buggy or using mobility aids - often forcing them to move into the road and take their chances with the traffic. 

It's an area that Living Streets groups around the country have been getting active on, and with noticeably positive results. If pavement parking is causing problems in your area, download a flyer that can be placed on offending vehicles to highlight the problem. Just click on the image. Better still, click on ROADWITCH.

... people living on streets with heavy motor vehicle traffic find the bottom drop out of their local social lives. "Traffic is like a mountain range, cutting you off" said one resident of a heavy traffic street in Bristol where over 20,000 cars drive by every day.

Recent research suggests that residents on busy streets have less than one quarter the number of local friends compared to those living on similar streets with little traffic.  The study (Driven to Excess) looked at three streets in north Bristol with light, medium and heavy traffic respectively. It found that motor traffic, which has grown more than tenfold in the UK since 1950, has a considerable negative impact on quality of life, particularly for residents living beside heavy motor traffic flows.

 You can download a summary of this report HERE. Go to Living Streets UK for the full report.  If you want Stockport Living Streets to campaign for less excess in your road, contact us.         (back)

This is a street where conventional spatial delineations between pedestrians, cyclists and car-users appear changed.  There are minimal signs indicating whose space is where or what.  The area around great Underbank is a good example of a Naked Street.  Check it out during your next shopping trip or in our Gallery.  Here are the key elements of a naked street:

• Minimal road markings
• Removal of guardrailing
• Informal crossing points for pedestrians
• Wider pavements
• Reducing unnecessary street clutter
• Reliance on thoughtful interaction between users
• Designing IN a space to socialize

 Well designed naked streets can be safer, more attractive and enable everyone to get around quicker.  Pilot schemes in the UK and abroad have seen a dramatic reduction in pedestrians being seriously injured or killed; people on foot, on a bike or in a car all have to pay attention to their surroundings and move with consideration for others.  And they do.

The naked streets approach always involve lots of local consultation to make sure that the scheme suits the local area.  Stockport Living Streets would like to create a list of potential sites for Naked Streets.  So if your neighbourhood would like to go naked, please let us know.  Further details are available on the national Living Streets site HERE.                                                          (back)