TACKLING OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY: PROMISING PRACTICE
Home Zones, London
Tackling childhood obesity through play
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
Photograph produced by London Play.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Useful websites:
www.londonplay.org.uk
www.homezonenews.org.uk
www.dft.gov.uk
www.dh.gov.uk/obesity
www.nhs.uk/change4life
HIGHLIGHTS
Home Zones
• promote physical activity in
children by encouraging outdoor
play close to home.
• reduce traffic speed to make
outdoor play safer.
• encourage walking and cycling.
• mean that parents can supervise
their children as they play so they
are more likely to allow them to
play outside.
London Play is a children’s charity, whose aims are that every child in
London has access to high quality, accessible and inclusive play
opportunities and child-friendly outdoor play spaces. The Chief Medical
Officer recommends that children get a minimum of 60 minutes of at least
moderate intensity physical activity every day. Play can provide this, and is
an important form of exercise for children to help prevent and reduce obesity
(Department for Culture, Media and Sport Getting Serious About Play - a
review of children’s play, 2004).
London Play’s research has found that many children in London have
difficulty finding a suitable playground within easy reach of their home. Home
Zones aim to change the way that residential streets are used by making
them places for people, rather than traffic.
London Play’s Home Zones project worked with several communities across
the capital to transform their streets into places where children can play, by:
• slowing and reducing traffic
• removing kerbs
• redesigning parking spaces
• introducing street lighting
• providing play spaces, seating and communal areas, often surrounded
with artworks, flowers, plants and landscaping.
WHERE?
There are an estimated 100 Home Zone schemes across England and
Wales.
London Play’s Home Zones pilot project covered five boroughs: Hillingdon,
Lewisham, Sutton, Westminster and Brent.
WHO WAS INVOLVED?
Local authorities, with their statutory responsibilities for planning and
highways, are key to delivering Home Zones.
Financial support for London Play's Home Zones project came from London
councils.
“A residential street is people’s land – it
belongs to them… [They] have to
exercise this right”
Bob Bruty, Transport for London, at
the Home Zones for London
conference 2007 (London Play
Annual Review, 2006-07).
The main source of funding for developing individual Home Zones in London
came through local authority applications to Transport for London's Streets
for People programme.
HOW?
There are three stages to each Home Zone project.
• establishing support for the changes among residents.
• ensuring that residents are actively involved in redesigning their street so
that it reflects their aspirations and they feel a sense of ownership.
• providing support to residents’ groups to apply for funding.
London Play’s Home Zones project staff supported implementation by:
• conducting initial interviews to gauge the level of interest - explaining the
concept of Home Zones, offering practical guidance and developing more
detailed proposals with interested partners.
• offering financial support for feasibility studies and in-depth stakeholder
consultation.
• supporting residents’ groups to work with local authorities on designing
the schemes and applying for funding from grant-making bodies.
WHAT HAS BEEN ACHIEVED?
London Play’s evaluation of the success of Home Zones schemes (Can I Play Out..? (2007) at www.londonplay.org.uk)
found:
• 30 percent of parents said their children spent more time playing in the street.
• Traffic fell from 2,400 to 400 vehicles per day in some streets, and average speeds were also reduced to 15 to 18
mph.
• Adults felt the streets were safer.
• Home Zones are popular with residents: 75 percent of adults and over 80 percent of children said their Home Zone
was better than before.
LEARNING POINTS: HOW YOU CAN DO IT
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Community engagement and involvement is key - plan for extensive stakeholder consultation and regular
communications with residents and build this into a realistic timetable.
Manage residents’ expectations from the beginning and be prepared for pockets of resistance on single issues such
as parking or access.
Some Home Zones have been funded through council tax or resident permit parking schemes where there has
been a ‘complete consensus’ on street redesign.
Home Zones can be costly and it is unlikely to be funded from a single source so work with residents to prioritise
requirements.
Local authorities are an important partner as they can access funds for street lighting and environmental
improvements. In London, local authorities may be able to apply for funding from the Streets for People
Programme, if the Home Zone meets the criteria.
FURTHER INFORMATION
For more information about this programme contact:
Dr Ute Navidi
Chief Executive, London Play
[email protected]
020 7272 2464
Useful publications:
• Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on www.culture.gov.uk are Getting Serious About Play: a
review of children’s play (2004) and Time for Play (2006).
• Department for Children, Schools and Families: (2008) The Play Strategy, and Play England (2008) Design for
Play: a guide to creating successful play spaces.