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News from Playing Out St Albans

Events and dates from Playing Out St Albans District

2022 was an amazing year for us, taking us to 35 streets in the district that we have now supported to apply and kitted out.

On this page you will find all the most recent information.

To see an overview of the Playing Out St Albans District project visit our main Playing Out St Albans District page. For our how-to guide to starting your own Playing Out scheme in St Albans District, please visit our How to apply page.

Please read these pages for inspiration, talk to your neighbours and sign up to our mailing list for updates.

Page contents

Events from Playing Out St Albans District

Graphic advertising information sessions

Book onto one of our free online information sessions to find out all you need to know about starting a Playing Out scheme in your road.

Our remaining 2023 information session dates are:

  • Monday 24th April at 10.30am
  • Monday 24th April at 8pm
  • Tuesday 13th June at 8pm
  • Friday 16th June at 10.30am
CLICK HERE TO BOOK AN INFO SESSION

Drop-in chats

Come along for a chat on one of the following dates:

  • Tuesday 18th April, 10-12: Cottonmill Community Centre, AL1 2EF – drop-in chat
  • Tuesday 2nd May, 8-9.30pm: The Beech House AL1 3EG – drop-in chat
  • Monday 15th May, 8-9.30pm: The Beech House AL1 3EG – drop-in chat
  • Sunday 21st May, 10am-12pm: Harpenden Sustainability Market,  Harpenden Common – drop-in chat

Five children smiling at the camera from the middle of the road with bike, scooter, cricket bats etc
Smiling faces – from Playing Out St Albans District

Application Deadlines

There are four application rounds per year. Each round has an application deadline.

2023 will have 4 application rounds:

The deadlines will be: 

  • Monday 30th Jan for Playing Out sessions of 25th March onwards
  • Monday 20th March for Playing Out sessions of 13th May onwards
  • Monday 15th May for Playing Out sessions of 24th June onwards
  • Monday 10th July for Playing Out sessions of 2nd September onwards

All the information you need to apply, including the link to the form, is on our How to Apply page. We recommend you contact us for a bit of guidance if you plan to “self-serve” of this information before applying if you cannot attend an information session.

Sign up to our mailing list to be alerted about future application deadlines. 

Remember you must consult the other residents (and businesses) on your street – before you can apply so please give yourself plenty of time to do that before an application deadline.  

Choosing your Playing Out dates 2023

In St Albans District, you may close your road for Playing Out up to 8 times a year for up to 3 hours each time in daylight hours. Click here for the full rules on how often and when you may hold Playing Out sessions in St Albans District  

You do not have to apply for a year’s worth of dates at once but, to save your time and ours, we do recommend you apply for multiple dates.

Don’t forget to check festivals (eg Easter), celebrations (Mothers’/Fathers’ Day), bank holidays, local school holidays and local community events (esp school fairs and town carnivals) when choosing your dates. You want the maximum number of people to be able to attend.

Interesting dates include

National Play Day: usually the first Wednesday in August
World Car Free Day 22nd September – we usually encourage applications for playing out on the nearest weekend. In 2023 we are encouraging playing out sessions on the weekend of 23rd and 24th September.
Silver Sunday (Celebrating Older People): usually first Sunday in October

Remember, you can also apply for a street party through Herts County Council on top of your 8 closures per year for Playing Out. So in total you can close your road 9 times. We recommend you continue to use the Herts County Council system for street party applications. See our sister organisation Our Street Party plus Herts County Council website for more information.

Playing Out St Albans District in the Media

Next

Return to the main Playing Out page
or
Click here for the Steps to Playing Out page – everything you need to know to start your St Albans District street Playing Out.
or
Find out about Festive Streets.