Hi I'm Kylie and I'm part of Hackney Living Streets, a local group of volunteers hoping to make a our streets more attractive, safe and pleasant places to walk around and be in.
Many local businesses have suffered from the financial impact of lockdown with many having to close and I wanted to find a way to help. Improvements like parklets have a big impact for local businesses, helping increase their income by up to 30%. I also recognise the need for more outdoor spaces to gather and make streets more pleasant and create a 'place to be' so we decided to work with local cafes and businesses to help raise funds to create some parklets around Hackney and make our streets nicer places at the same time.
I have enjoyed visiting local community parklets created by two of my friends and have appreciated the space to stop, rest and for my children to eat a snack and play. One parklet creator and member of Hackney Living Streets created a notebook for comments from passers-by, and the incredibly positive feedback convinced me that people in Hackney would love it if we created more parklets. I appreciate that Humdingers have created a community service for anyone in need of a warm, free meal and they need a space for people to gather for this. The fact parklets can also have a really positive impact for local businesses and their community meant I really wanted to work with one of my favourite cafes to raise funds to install a parklet outside their cafe, to help the high street recover after the lockdowns.
Alongside Hackney Living Streets I campaigned for the London Fields Primary School's School Street and the London Fields Low Traffic Neighbourhood to improve road safety for kids travelling to schools in the area and change the streets to places we enjoy being in, and I have been delighted that Hackney Council, the London Mayor and Government have all supported the introduction of safer street space.
The members of Hackney Living Streets campaign for improvements to the health and safety of our neighbourhoods to make them places people can travel sustainably (by foot, bike and public transport), places we can enjoy being in, for improved air and noise quality, and to eliminate road danger resulting in fatalities and serious injuries.
