Junior Clutter Busters Give Street Eyesores The Red Light

English Heritage Commissioner and famous author Bill Bryson joined children from a south London school on the 22nd July 2005 to launch a new Education Booklet for the English Heritage Save our Streets campaign.

Bill Bryson, who is championing the campaign to restore the character of England’s historic streets, visited Grove Lane near Camberwell Green in Southwark where a group of ten-year-old children from Lyndhurst Primary School have been creating “clutter audits” of their street.

Grove Lane is one of the many streets set to benefit from a borough-wide de-cluttering initiative led by Southwark Council.

Bill Bryson said: “Street clutter affects all of us but it is particularly important to show young people why they should care about their environment and how they can influence decisions made in their area. I urge all teachers to bring this campaign into the classroom. I am delighted that Southwark Council has decided to introduce Save Our Streets to the Borough. A visitor to England often forms their first impression of the country in London - it is vital that our capital’s streets reflect its status as a world-class city.”

Nicholas Hammill, Head Teacher of Lyndhurst Primary School, added: “We are delighted to be involved in the launch of the English Heritage Save our Streets Education booklet in this the centenary year of our school. We look forward to using this as the basis for citizenship projects across all Key Stages. This important educational resource will help the children of Lyndhurst Primary School to make Camberwell a better place for its residents.”

Unnecessary signage, bollards, railings, yellow lines and even traffic lights clutter the streets of London and ruin the visual impact of our surroundings. Road markings and street furniture are often badly thought-out and have been added over a period of years, resulting in a mish-mash of styles and instructions. Many of us are forced to live in streets that are overwhelmed with clutter that is often badly positioned, old, vandalised or just plain ugly.

The free eight-page education booklet highlights the negative impact generated by street clutter and provides a framework for schools to use the Save our Streets campaign for citizenship, history, geography, art, literacy and ICT projects. By choosing a street near their school, the booklet shows teachers how to use streets as outdoor classrooms where pupils can make a critical analysis of their surroundings and complete a simple audit of clutter to send to their local councillor.

Since the launch of Save our Streets in October 2004, Southwark Council has pledged to act on any street audits they receive and has already put in place a number of initiatives:

• a review is being carried out of all street name-plates and street furniture, so that superfluous items can be removed and signs fixed to buildings instead where possible;
• a new policy has been introduced for sign requests – anyone requesting new directional signage has to fulfil a number of criteria;
• a “sweep” of the Borough has been carried out removing unnecessary instructional signs. An analysis of the signs removed showed that 60% of them were council-initiated;
• all new promotional signs are now introduced on a trial basis only. A review is carried out to check the appropriateness and condition of the new signs at the end of the trial period and the cost of removing signs is taken into account; and
• a systematic survey of roads in the Borough is being carried out to identify signs that can be better positioned.

Cllr Richard Thomas, Southwark Council's executive member for environment and transport, said: “We're committed to clearing the clutter from Southwark's streets and will remove any superfluous signage or street furniture. Any help that school children can give us in identifying the hotspots would be very welcome so that we can work together in making Southwark a cleaner and greener place in which to live, learn and work.”

For more press information please contact Anya Matthews, English Heritage Corporate Communications, on 020 7973 3372.

PHOTOGRAPHS of Grove Lane are available free on the Press Association's Picselect site on www.papicselect.com under English Heritage/Save Our Streets/Grove Lane

NOTES FOR EDITORS
Free copies of the Save our Streets booklet can be obtained from English Heritage Education, Freepost 22, London W1E 7EZ; tel: 0870 333 1181 or email education@english-heritage.org.uk