A North East London council is planning on building tiny parks the size of car parking spaces across the borough.
Waltham Forest Council is inviting local businesses to send in their ideas for what they call ‘parklets’ to be established throughout the East London borough.
Parklets, or mini-parks, have been popping up around Waltham Forest and other parts of London for a number of years as part of an initiative to promote green, outdoor community spaces, and boost locally-owned small businesses such as cafes and restaurants.
The spaces can be as small as parking spots or pedestrian refuge islands that have been repurposed to ‘improve the urban landscape’.
READ MORE: Woman wants to turn thousands of parking spaces into little parks after being hit by a motorbike
The council says it is currently “developing plans for a resident-led parklet programme, with a focus on low-cost interventions, developed and managed by residents, that highlight more ways in which a single car parking space can be reimagined”.
Waltham Forest has been leading the way in unrolling ‘parklets’ in London
(Image: Waltham Forest Council)
The initiative is co-funded by the council and local businesses, with the council taking responsibility for the construction and maintenance of the spaces.
Local stakeholders, meanwhile, are put in charge of their use and general upkeep.
Cllr Clyde Loakes, deputy leader and cabinet member for the environment, said: “People are so used to parked cars dominating our streets that we might not realise how much space they actually take up.
“But instead of using a parking space for a pollution emitting piece of metal that sits dormant for 95 per cent of the time, we could instead use the space for a small garden, seating for a café, or a park that our kids could play in.
“Piece by piece, we’re dismantling an idea that has been dominant in our culture for the past 50 years that the car is king, so these Parklets will allow local people to reclaim a little bit of their local area from parked cars”.
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Locals in the borough have largely responded positively to the few parklets that have already been constructed.
One person described a parklet built on Winchelsea Road as a “wonderful space and a great improvement from the slightly grim outlook previously (usually a view of the side of a van)”.
The owner of a local wine bar also said the parklet is “loved by all”, adding, “our little corner of Waltham Forest is all the better for it”.
But not all residents are chuffed with the tiny green spaces.
However, some expressed his shock at the costs involved in constructing the parklet on Winchelsea Road, as well as another on Coppermill Lane.
The two parklets, which were both funded by Transport for London, together cost a total of £38,760.
The Council will be revealing more details about the programme at the beginning of 2022.
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https://www.mylondon.news/news/east-london-news/tiny-parks-size-car-parking-22274867
