Building stronger, greener street communities together
*** Paid role opportunity – Deadline for applications extended to Monday 29th April ***
Click here more information
In this era of a cost of living crisis, loneliness, mental health crisis and climate anxiety, it’s never been more important to strengthen connections in our communities.
Organising get-togethers with your neighbours and connecting the community together can build sustainability, help create positive health and wellbeing and encourage active travel too.
One of the main ways Sustainable St Albans enables residents to build greener street communities is through encouraging and supporting road closures for street get-togethers. Read our blog about how road closures bring sustainability to your street.
Yet all neighbourly connection is good and there are plenty of ways to achieve it. Read on for ideas on how to build a stronger, greener street community where you live….
Playing Out
Close your road to traffic 1-8 times a year to encourage play and community on the street outside your own home. Not just for kids!
Street Parties
Sustainable St Albans is delighted to support community group, Our Street Party, in assisting residents to organise street parties.
Festive Streets
Decorate the windows on your street – a winter project to bring the community together with some festive cheer.
Other street event ideas
From book swaps to festive sing-a-longs, harvest giveaways to foodbank collections, there is plenty more for streets to do.
Meet Your Neighbours events
Come to an information session about street parties or the Playing Out scheme, or chat with us at one of our drop-in events.
Contact Us
Find out how to talk to us about the projects on your own street and get our help with road closures.
Street Event and Activity Ideas
Here at Sustainable St Albans, we actively support residents to close their own roads to traffic up to 9 times a year, either for one-off street parties or more frequent short gatherings with the Playing Out St Albans District scheme.
As well as parties and play, why not consider one of the below ideas to encourage people to come along and meet neighbours. These ideas are community-minded and encouraging of green living. and many help people save money. They can take place either during a road closure, or on the pavement, drives, in private gardens or houses.
Anything goes as long as all neighbours are invited to take part (a paper note through doors ensures inclusivity).
And don’t forget to set up a street WhatsApp group for your road too!
- Books & Toys – organise a blanket or stall for people to bring and take away ones they no longer need. Particularly good before school holidays or in the winter.
- Gardening – organise a seed and plant swap in the spring. Works well for vegetable seeds/plants and also for community efforts to encourage wildlife.
- Home-grown goodies – too many courgettes or beans? – organise a street swap/giveaway of extra produce in September
- Charity activities – crafts and bakes are particularly popular to raise money for local charities
- Foodbank drives – organise a collection for delivery to the local foodbanks such as St Albans District Foodbank or The King’s Pantry; some streets do it weekly.
- Competitions – best dressed Halloween house, bake-off, pet competitions.
- Trails – easily co-ordinated with neighbours displaying posters in front windows; great for school holidays. Connect with St Albans Rainbow trail to see what they are up to., or make up your own.
- Scavenger hunts – invite local children to hunt for things in the neigbhbourhoods – like this scavenger hunt the Playing Out team did for the Sustainability Festival.
- Wilderhood Watch – this fabulous local St Albans District community group helps you set up your own street Wildlife team and improve habitats where you live; they have loads of ideas for street projects.
- Neighbourhood Watch – in Hertfordshire we have OWL (Online Watch Link). Neighbours can sign up to receive emails from the local police. Each street can also have its own street co-ordinator, be part of an area, ward, district and so on. Street co-ordinators work with neighbours and encourage sign-ups. Sign yourself up at owl.co.uk
- Climate conversations – get together with neighbours and use these Sustainable St Albans resources to structure one or two group sessions discussing climate change and your actions as an individual and as a community.
- Festive fun – celebrate special times as a community, for example some carols, a mince pie and hot cups of tea, as well as our very own Festive Streets project.
Contact the Meet Your Neighbours team
- Contact the team by email
- Talk to us at one of our events – an information session on zoom or in person or at a drop-in event Find dates on our Events page here.
Find us on social media
- Follow us on Facebook
- Follow us on Twitter
- Join the Playing Out St Albans Facebook Group and the National Playing Out Facebook Group for peer support
Sign up to our mailing list
To hear all the latest news about the Meet Your Neighbours projects, including deadlines for road closure applications and information session dates, please sign up to our newsletter.
Click here to sign up to the Meet Your Neighbours newsletter