Call to get rid of capital’s parking spaces – as most Londoners do not own cars

STREETS ACROSS London should be converted from parking spaces to parks and play areas, campaigners have urged.

Conservation charity CPRE London said only half of the capital’s households have a car, but 1,400 hectares ( 3,500 acres) of the city is dedicated to parking spaces – the equivalent of 10 Hyde Parks.

The charity says the provision of unrestricted parking encourages people to drive when they could make journeys by walking, cycling or public transport, which is better for health and reduces air pollution.

London has only around half the green space it needs for a population its size so more room is needed for parks and playgrounds, a report from the group said.

Since the coronavirus outbreak began, research shows only 36 per cent of London’s pavements are wide enough for social distancing.

CPRE London said the finding highlights that space for car parking is “disproportionately allocated” when compared to pavement space or room for cycle lanes.

Itiscallingforaminimumof30 streets in each London borough to be transformed into parks and play spaces. Areas with low car ownership should be identified and matched up with parts of boroughs which lack green space, to find locations for new parks.

Parking can also be transformed into cycle lanes and wider pavements, while single parking spaces can be given over to “parklets” or small areas that provide seating for cafes, or used to provide bicycle storage.

Historic town centres within the capital could be restored to attractive, pedestrianised areas by removing parking, and huge surface car parks at retail parks could even make way for muchneeded new housing. Alice Roberts of CPRE London said: “In some parts of London as few as 30 per cent of households have a car yet all the streets are car parks.

“One way we can make better use of this space is to turn streets into parks.”