Your Avenue. Your Voice:
Let’s make Handsworth Safer and Healthier!

Dear fellow neighbour,

We are a local action group made up of parents and residents in Highams Park. We are becoming increasingly concerned about the traffic issues on Handsworth Avenue and surrounding streets that our children navigate their way through every day.

Thanks to recent pressure and campaigning from the community, Waltham Forest Council have now agreed to run a consultation with a view to introducing a ‘School Street’ on Handsworth Avenue. Read on to find out more…

The problem

Every morning and afternoon, school drop-offs and pick-ups turn the area into a stressful and dangerous place. Handsworth Avenue becomes clogged with cars, leading to risky driving and aggressive behavior that we and our children have witnessed. The high number of vehicles also worsens air quality, creating long-term health risks, especially for young lungs. This situation makes the environment unsafe for both our children and ourselves. With over 1,900 children attending two schools and a nursery, we need positive change.

Imagine a street free of traffic, where children can walk to school safely without cars and pollution!

  • “We strongly believe that implementing a School Street is a crucial step towards ensuring the safety and well-being of our children and creating a more sustainable and child-friendly community. We welcome that it can be done without the need for a CPZ. ”

    Claire Nairne – Headteacher Handsworth Primary School

  • “I dread turning onto Handsworth Avenue in the mornings with my kids. They shouldn’t have to put up with the volume of traffic we’re experiencing.”

    Bright Horizons nursery parent

  • “In the morning and afternoon this road is a nightmare, blocked most of the time due to the traffic. It makes the pedestrian crossing dangerous when taking the kids to school”

    Handsworth Avenue resident

What can be done?

A ‘School Street’ is the outcome we are looking for. It briefly closes the street to traffic at the start and end of the school day during term time, Monday to Friday, creating a safer, healthier, calmer environment for all residents and users of the street.

FIND OUT MORE

How do we get a School Street?

School Streets are put in place through local consultation. Due to campaign pressure, Waltham Forest Council have changed their policy and no longer require a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) in place first. We can now have a School Street without residents incurring any costs or inconvenience. A consultation is coming! Residents and parents will be given the chance to respond. Together we can make this happen.

Please read through the FAQ for additional information on how a School Street works.