The Gloucester Road Parklet

Overcoming opposition with a child-friendly parklet

Waltham Forest Council’s first community parklet, the Gloucester Road parklet, was created by Toby Spearpoint outside his home in 2022. In 2019, Toby originally wanted somewhere to park his cargo bike due to difficulties in storing it as well as seeing an opportunity for more greening on the street.. He also wanted to do something about the anti-social behaviour linked to car users outside his home, with some drivers leaving engines running, dealing drugs, playing loud music late at night, and dropping litter out of their cars. 

Toby talked to his neighbours and invited feedback on the idea but unfortunately he faced a lot of opposition who were fearful of the parklet being used for nefarious purposes, as well as the loss of parking. 

Although there was no formal application process in place, Waltham Forest Council had built a number of council-led parklets and was considering creating a community parklet policy when the pandemic arrived in 2020, which required resources to be diverted elsewhere.

The council’s community parklet policy was finally launched in 2022. The Gloucester Road parklet went through the usual review stages and concerns were mitigated by granting an experimental traffic order for 12 months. Happily, once the trial parklet was installed it was very popular, and after consulting local residents, the council made it permanent in 2024.

Toby’s parklet is a simple design with tables and chairs placed on the road surrounded by planters which he built himself. Toby puts out the table and chairs in the morning and brings them inside at the end of the day. The parklet is particularly popular with local children due to the little free book library, toy library, chalk for drawing, and comic swap. Some parents have reported being late for school due to their children wanting to stop and play in the parklet on the way! People also donate toys, which can be stored in the drawer under the book library, and there is a seed swap too. 

As Gloucester Road connects two main roads, people with mobility issues sometimes stop for a rest en-route to the local shops, since the parklet provides the only public seating on that street. In the two years since the Gloucester Road parklet has been operational, there has not been a single incident of anti-social behaviour, nor any negative impacts - proof of its success as a community asset.

The Gloucester Road parklet has inspired a number of other parklets, and was featured in this video by BBC Earth. As well as being much loved by the children who use it, it’s also popular with bees, butterflies, and other wildlife.

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