World Car Free Day: designing your dream parks in Telegraph Hill

On Sunday 20 September, Kitto Road in Telegraph Hill was closed to traffic for World Car Free Day, a family-friendly celebration of greener travel, cleaner air and community. The Nature Neighbourhoods team was there with a stall, and we spent the day talking to residents about the parks and green spaces they love.

Design a park

Our main activity invited children and families to redesign Upper and Lower Telegraph Hill Park. Visitors told us what they loved, what they would change and what they would add.

Some of what we heard:

• A space for younger girls. One child said they would love a park for girls who are older than toddlers but not yet teenagers.
• Safer ways to reach the park. Families asked for better crossings so that children can get to the park independently and safely.
• Help with litter picking. Residents asked for council support to set up their own local litter picks.

We also had themed books and colouring for younger visitors, and opinion boards where people of all ages could share wider thoughts about parks and open spaces in Lewisham.

A team effort

The day wouldn’t have been possible without our colleagues from the Air Quality and Recycling teams, and the London Play team, who ran activities for children and families and helped bring the day together.

What happens next

Everything we heard will feed into the Parks and Open Spaces Strategy, we will take all these converastion to other groups and residence we meet to see if these are concers and improvement across the brough.