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Set up a street play session

What is Street Play?

Street Play sessions are temporary road closures organised by local residents to let children play safely and freely in their street. This is part of a national scheme endorsed by Play England.

The vision is for every child to have the freedom to regularly play actively outside their own front door.

How Street Play works

  • a session takes place for up to two hours and can be after-school or on a weekend
  • it is led by and for neighbours, the session is only publicised within the immediate streets
  • a residential road is closed to through traffic, with volunteer stewards at each road closure point to redirect traffic and escort residents' cars safely
  • parents and carers are responsible for their own children
  • there are limited costs involved, such as photocopying flyers and there is no fee for a Street Play road closure
  • street closure notices are put up in the road in the weeks before the event

Organising a Street Play session

To organise a Street Play session, talk to your neighbours, explain what you'd like to do, discuss any concerns they may have and hopefully get their support and interest to join in. When you have enough support and people to be stewards on the day, you need to apply for a temporary road closure.You can request up to 12 dates per application.

Once you have permission to close the road, you need to let all those living in the road know the date and time and what will happen. It's a good idea to print some leaflets with the details and post them through each household's letterbox. When you receive the road closure notices you will need to photocopy these and put them up in the street to make sure everyone is informed.

On the day, meet up with your stewards 15 minutes before the Street Play session is due to start so they know what they need to do. Close the road using your signs and traffic cones and then everyone can start playing!

Apply for a road closure 

We will not charge a fee for road closures for Street Play sessions. 

To apply, you need to:

Notes for applicants

The Council is permitted to make a road closure order under the Town Police Clauses Act 1847 only where roads are likely to be crowded or obstructed during an event on or near a highway.

The Council reserves the right to refuse an application if:

  • you are unable to satisfy the Council that the event falls within the Act
  • if there are objections which the Council considers to be valid and cannot be resolved
  • if the Council is not satisfied with any of the arrangements made and/or if you have not complied with the guidance in this note

You will be responsible for the costs involved and ensuring that manned barriers and signage are in place.

If you application is approved, you can email Community.wellbeing@guildford.gov.uk to book the road closure loan pack, including the signs, cones and high visibility jackets.

Before submitting your application, you should consider the implications of the road closure for emergency service access, bus operators, taxi operators and Highways (Surrey County Council) and others who may be inconvenienced by it. You should discuss the proposals with:

During the event, there must be clear access at all times for emergency vehicles, you will need to plan for access points in case the emergancy services are needed.

The Council strongly advises you to carry out a risk assessment for your event and consider purchasing public liability insurance and further information on public liability insurance and risk assessments can be found online at Street Party (opens new window) or The Big Lunch (opens new window).

The site must be left clean and tidy after the event., you will be responsible for clearing your own rubbish.

You should apply for a road closure at least 8 weeks before the closure date so we have time to process your application. We can't guarantee we can process your application if it's received later than this time.

The person completing the form will be the named representative who will be available at all times immediately before, during and after the event so they can be contacted by the Council, Surrey County Council or the Police if necessary.

Further information