Bid to reclaim Blackburn and Darwen's streets for walkers

11:45am Wednesday 20th August 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

A CHARITY is targeting couch potatoes in Blackburn and Darwen in a drive to reclaim the streets for pedestrians.

Living Streets has a £396,000 pot ready to spruce up roads in the borough over the next four years.

Formerly called the Pedestrians’ Association, the charity works to promote walking and has already set up project in five other towns with poor health statistics.

Blackburn with Darwen has the third worst level of physical activity amongst adults in the country, and residents die on average eight years earlier than in other parts of Britain.

A spokeswoman for the charity urged people to get in touch to suggest changes to make their streets seem more appealing.

Examples include extra seating, cutting back and maintaining plants, making pedestrian crossings safer or organising public art and street parties.

The first project underway is in Taylor Street, Darwen, where a route to a children’s centre is affected by flooding, poor lighting and anti-social behaviour.

The move has been welcomed by council bosses, who have pledged to work with the charity to help the projects run smoothly.

Coun Alan Cottam, executive member for regeneration and environment, said: “Anything which encourages people to leave their cars at home and walk should be welcomed.”

Tony Armstrong, Chief Executive of Living Streets, said: “We all hear a lot about the need to increase the amount of exercise we take and for busy people the best answer to that can be leaving the car keys at home and walking more as part of their daily routine.”

The funding has come from the Big Lottery’s Wellbeing programme.

The local representative for the charity, Bernard Kennedy, can be contacted on 07590 048494, or email bernard.kennedy@livingstreets.org.uk.

Do you support the Living Streets idea? Add your comments below.