Side streets should be converted into parks to improve the lives of 440,000 people living in “grey deserts” with no nearby green space or trees, according to the National Trust.
The charity is calling for up to 600 new “street parks” to provide these communities with places to exercise, play and socialise. The parks would cost £400 million to create but would deliver health and wellbeing benefits worth more than £100 million a year, a report commissioned by the trust said.
Researchers identified 295 deprived neighbourhoods with 440,000 residents who live more than 800 metres from a public green space of more than five acres (20,000 square metres). Liverpool has the highest number of such neighbourhoods, with 61 of what the trust described as grey