Photo Credit: Southwark News

By David Worsell, Founder of Ineo Digital

Recently we’ve seen Low Traffic Neighbourhoods rolled out across London. To ensure these ambitious schemes are impactful and to deliver the associated health benefits, it’s important to also think beyond London. Whilst the capital is great for showcasing flagship infrastructure projects, we must also think nationally, as any town or city can benefit from re-designing streets to prioritise movement for people and not only cars.

It is not only integral to our communities’ health and well being, but also to the rejuvenation of our communities post lockdown. By making more physical space, by pedestrianising our roads, we will be making public spaces more human-centric and focused on our communities. 

In order for local councils to understand what communities really want, they must consult with residents. People actively want to be consulted, not have changes forced upon them without an opportunity to contribute to the design and implementation. People use different communications channels and not everyone gets their information from the same sources. 

Hello Lamp Post has worked in collaboration with local councils to ensure people are consulted on and informed of any upcoming temporary or permanent changes to streets. 

As lockdown restrictions begin to lift, it is expected that all children in the UK will be back at school in September. It will be critical for local councils to focus not only on high streets but also on improving the safety and air quality around schools. 

Earlier this year, Southwark Council utilised Hello Lamp Post to support its School Healthy Streets initiative – a pioneering scheme to empower local communities and make environments around schools safer and healthier. 

The aim of the healthy streets initiative is to improve safety and air quality around schools and to discourage driving during drop off and pick up. This is a great example of a local authority achieving meaningful engagement with a digital tool for its public consultation process. During this time, Hello Lamp Post used its platform to engage the local community by encouraging friendly chats with everyday on-street objects such as bins and bollards, to ask for feedback and to inform parents via SMS Chat, about proposed changes..

The local council traditionally engaged residents through resident meetings, static websites or paper consultations. By using Hello Lamp Post, the council experienced a 40 percent increase in engagement and have since rolled-out school street closures across the borough to benefit the safety and wellbeing of its residents. The lesson learned? 

People like to be consulted.