Street furniture covers all types of traffic signs, seating, planting, and any other items fixed for the safety or convenience of the public.
When too much street furniture accumulates and is not maintained properly, it can have a detrimental effect on towns and cities, trap litter and dirt and make cleansing difficult. It can also make navigating streets challenging for particular users including those who have to negotiate wheel chairs and prams, people with visual and physical impairments and cleansing operatives.
- Reducing clutter will lead to cleaner streets that all users find easier to navigate. Keep Britain Tidy believes this can be achieved by implementing the following policy recommendations.
- A maintenance schedule for existing street furniture will help prevent it from becoming neglected. Training for operatives and more effective cleansing methods should also be put in place.
- Keep Britain Tidy would like to see local authorities carry out regular audits of all street furniture and identify items that are in need of repair or replacement, or are superfluous.
- Public service companies must ensure that furniture and equipment within their ownership is sufficiently maintained, and free from fly-posting, graffiti and other forms of vandalism.
- Partnership working and sharing good practice across departments, organisations and authorities will allow for better informed and more co-ordinated choices to be made, with regard to street furniture.
- A prescriptive policy on street furniture will serve as a reference point for the development of the street scene. This should include the placement and design of street furniture with consideration given to how it will be maintained.
- Local authorities should use design guidance and advice documents produced by various organisations, to help practitioners reduce clutter and improve the street scene.