We're looking for local residents to volunteer with us. You'll survey your street as part of our Southport Liveable Neighbourhood project. We need your help to find out if your local area meets the needs of families, older people, and people with disabilities. And we want to know how we can make it easier for anyone who wants to walk, cycle or use a wheelchair to get from A to B.
Everyone in the neighbourhood has a chance to contribute through the Tell Us About Your Area survey, which runs online until 21 February.
Got 30 minutes to help?
We're looking for volunteers in the Southport area to help us carry out health checks on local streets.
These health checks take just 30 minutes, and you'll survey the street for things like:
- how it feels to be on the street
- if the pavement is wide enough
- if there's enough greenery
- how safe it feels to move around
- whether shops be easily walked to.
You can do it alone or with your family group. And there are online training and support available to help you.
All you need to do is email us on southport@sustrans.org.uk and someone in the team will get in touch to give all the information you need.
What will we do with the information?
The results will help reveal problem hotspots, such as:
- rat-running
- the lack of safe places to cross on the streets.
And it will help to highlight features that you think support the health and wellbeing of residents and local businesses.
Our street designers will then use the views and data gathered from the community to help re-imagine the local neighbourhood as a public space where people are the priority.
Have your say
Ali Dore, our community engagement officer in Southport said:
“We’re looking for volunteers who live or work in the project area and want to get involved in long term improvements to their street.
"It might not be obvious that streets impact our health but simple changes to a design can improve the safety and feel of the street, as well as air quality and noise.
“The healthy street survey is a simple task you can do in your own time to provide valuable information that helps our designers understand the issues on your street.
"If you’re interested please do get in touch with us on southport@sustrans.org.uk.”
About the Southport Liveable Neighbourhoods project
The project, which is run by our North team with Sefton Council, works with the local community to make the area a safer, healthier place for everyone.
The neighbourhood area stretches between Lord Street and Cemetery Road.
It aims to reduce problems such as speeding traffic and rat-running, improve social connections and the environment.
Anyone can volunteer to carry out the street survey, which takes around 30 minutes to complete.
How we've been working with the community so far
Everyone in the neighbourhood has a chance to contribute to the map which is available online until 21 February.
Over 650 people have already told us about their streets.
There have also been five online engagement events for local residents and businesses.
Part of the process to gather views from all sections of the community is through face-to-face meetings and workshops. But these are currently postponed due to national lockdown restrictions.
What happens next?
Workshops to feedback the results of the surveys and initial meetings and to start to develop designs for the area will take place at the beginning of March.
The community will have a chance to comment on each stage of the design process via online workshops and surveys through the post or on the phone.
School children from seven schools in the area will survey their own streets and contribute ideas through activities and workshops.
Email us on southport@sustrans.org.uk to find out more about volunteering to help survey your street.
