Most of us who live in cities eventually become blind to blight caused by the endless rows of cars parked along every street. We become immune to the visual clutter and numb to the road danger to which they contribute. We forget that the streets on which we live are for people first. However, there are those who make a stand.
Environmental campaigner and supporter of the organisation Living Streets, Brenda Puech is single-handedly changing her areas of London by transforming parking bays into parklets – miniature areas of green space.
Hackney Council has forced Brenda to dismantle her parklet, but such was the positive reaction to the installation from locals that they have agreed to a meeting with her. Furthermore, the council will host a pop-up parklet event on Car Free Day later this month, at which local residents will have the chance to showcase their ideas for parklets by temporarily transforming parking bays.
What happens when you reclaim the streets?
The reaction to the launch of our very own Biskiple – a pretend skip used to securely store bicycles in urban areas, and which occupies a car parking space – earlier this summer, offered a glimpse of how some motorists are under the misapprehension that they own the roads.
The problem is perennial and one that Winston Churchill tried to tackle in the 1920s when he abolished Road Tax for fear that it was giving drivers a false sense of entitlement. Fearing motorists would lay claim to roads by dint of paying for a small portion of their repair, he wrote: “It will be only a step from this for [motorists] to claim in a few years the moral ownership of the roads their contributions have created.” Source: ipayroadtax.com
Brenda Puech provides a perfect demonstration of the power of the individual and we salute her.
Ethical insurance
The ETA has been voted Britain’s most ethical insurance company 2017.
The Good Shopping Guide each year reveals the good, the bad, and the ugly of the world’s companies and brands, with a view to supporting the growth of social responsibility and ethical business as well as a more sustainable, just society.
Beating household-name insurance companies such as John Lewis and the Co-op, we earned an ethical company index score of 89 – earning us joint-first place with Naturesave.
Your Journey Our world
The ETA was established in 1990 as an ethical provider of green, reliable travel services. Twenty seven years on, we continue to offer cycle insurance, travel insurance and breakdown cover while putting concern for the environment at the heart of all we do.
Angela Smith
What an excellent idea! As a committed guerilla gardener, I salute this initiative and hope the idea will spread.