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Londoners are being encouraged to ditch their cars and celebrate World Car Free Day this September.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is inviting neighbourhoods to embrace the worldwide celebration with shut streets and street parties on September 22. Working in partnership with the charity Play Streets, the mayor is offering free space hoppers to participating streets.
The mayor’s Walking and Cycling Commissioner Will Norman said: ‘The Mayor and I are committed to enabling even more Londoners to incorporate walking and cycling into their daily lives.
‘We are delighted to once again be supporting the activation of play streets on Car Free Day, a unique opportunity to transform streets into playful and social spaces, where all members of the community can come together to scoot, bike, walk, space hop and socialise safely.’
Play Streets encourages residents to have frequent car-free days, both so children can have safer play and for neighbours to get to know each other. Through shutting roads, the Mayor is hoping to reduce car use, road dangers and air pollution, improve mental and physical health, and help edge closer to towards environmental goals.
London marking Car Free Day will coincide with the official opening of the Windrush line, the newly-renamed Overground line travelling from Highbury & Islington to Clapham Junction. Where the line passes through, neighbourhoods will be encouraged to have carnival-style celebrations in the streets. Hackney is one borough participating, with the return of Hackney Carnival after a five-year hiatus.
Residents are not mandated to go car-free – but if they want to, they can apply to close their streets for the weekend September 20-22. If the thought of hopping around for the weekend appeals, the process to apply differs between boroughs, but takes anywhere from four to six weeks. You can find out more on the official London Play Streets charity website here.
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