Lambeth Council has unveiled what it describes as: "one of the most ambitious strategies of its kind that will make our kerbside fairer, more accessible and more climate resilient."

The Kerbside is commonly known as the part of the road where cars are parked and is the largest public space controlled by Lambeth Council with an area equivalent to 1,158,000m2 – or 194 football pitches. The Kerbside Strategy will commit Lambeth Council to reclaiming at least 25% of this space from vehicle parking and introduce sustainability measures to fulfil a key pledge set out in the Climate Action Plan (CAP).

The four priorities set out in the strategy are:

Enable accessible and active travel: This means using the kerbside to ensure that our pavements are clear and accessible, particularly for people with mobility impairments. This also includes minimum commitments for cycle parking and shared bikes, and high-quality walking networks. A kerbside basic example is committing to all households being within 50m of free cycle parking.

Create Places for People Kerbside uses that create social spaces on our streets: Many households don’t have outdoor space or a car and can’t make use of the kerbside either. That will change with this strategy. Local people will be able to apply to use the kerbside for small community gardens. Businesses will be able to apply to use the kerbside for outdoor seating. We will build on the successes of pilot schemes over the last few years.

Increase climate resilience: Our summers are already getting hotter, and flooding is a growing risk. The impacts of climate change will not be felt equally and people on lower incomes, who are sick, or the elderly are all at greater risk. This strategy pledges that all streets will have shade from trees and green spaces and biodiversity that together help protect us from these risks. A kerbside basic example is street trees every 25m on every street in Lambeth.

Reduce emissions and traffic Once we reach our ambitious targets for sustainable transport and traffic reduction, there will be far fewer motor vehicles on our streets. But for those that remain we need to support the shift towards electric vehicles and shared cars as much as possible. We must provide the infrastructure and incentives to support this shift quickly, and at scale.

You can read more here on the Love Lambeth website, with the strategy itself posted here as part of the Cabinet agenda for the meeting on Monday 16 January 2023 (you can watch the debate online here: https://bit.ly/3iflH1o (and the video recording will be online for 180 days).