Your Avenue. Your Voice:
Let’s make Handsworth Safer and Healthier!

Dear fellow neighbour,

We are a local action group made up of parents and residents in Highams Park. We are hugely concerned about the traffic issues on Handsworth Avenue and surrounding streets that our children navigate their way through every day. We need your help to try and improve the situation.

The problem

Every morning and afternoon, school drop-offs and pick-ups turn the area into a stressful and dangerous place. Handsworth Avenue becomes clogged with cars, leading to risky driving and aggressive behavior that we and our children have witnessed. The high number of vehicles also worsens air quality, creating long-term health risks, especially for young lungs. This situation makes the environment unsafe for both our children and ourselves. With over 1,900 children attending two schools and a nursery, we need positive change.

Imagine a street free of traffic, where children can walk to school safely without cars and pollution!

  • “We strongly believe that implementing a School Street is a crucial step towards ensuring the safety and well-being of our children and creating a more sustainable and child-friendly community”

    Claire Nairne – Headteacher Handsworth Primary School

  • “I dread turning onto Handsworth Avenue in the mornings with my kids. They shouldn’t have to put up with the volume of traffic we’re experiencing.”

    Bright Horizons nursery parent

  • “In the morning and afternoon this road is a nightmare, blocked most of the time due to the traffic. It makes the pedestrian crossing dangerous when taking the kids to school”

    Handsworth Avenue resident

What can be done

  • School Street

    A School Street is the outcome we are looking for, which briefly closes the street to traffic at the start and end of the school day during term time, Monday to Friday, creating a safer, healthier environment for all residents and users of the street.

    FIND OUT MORE

  • Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ)

    Having a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) in place is necessary to introduce a School Street, so this is the first step that needs action. A CPZ will reduce traffic, prioritising residents and making the street safer for school children.

    FIND OUT MORE

What can be done

Support the cause.
Sign the petition

Waltham Forest council will launch consultations to make these necessary changes if enough people get behind the campaign, particularly the residents of the affected streets. For now, we just need to prove that enough people want to see change.

Please fill in this form to sign the petition. Your information will only be used to gauge support.