Parklets Scheme resident engagement

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This consultation has now closed.

Have your say on Barnet’s Parklets Scheme

We want your views on the parklets that have been installed across our town centres in Barnet. A parklet is a small seating area that takes over a car parking space(s), or a part of a wide pavement. They provide more outdoor seating space, either for a business or the wider community.


Background

In Barnet, parklets first emerged as a potential improvement to town centres in the Golders Green Town Centre Strategy of 2020. The strategy sought to implement community/business parklets in Golders Green to provide additional seating and planting. However, just a

Have your say on Barnet’s Parklets Scheme

We want your views on the parklets that have been installed across our town centres in Barnet. A parklet is a small seating area that takes over a car parking space(s), or a part of a wide pavement. They provide more outdoor seating space, either for a business or the wider community.


Background

In Barnet, parklets first emerged as a potential improvement to town centres in the Golders Green Town Centre Strategy of 2020. The strategy sought to implement community/business parklets in Golders Green to provide additional seating and planting. However, just a few months later, the need for parklets was heightened when the Covid-19 pandemic introduced temporary closure and indoor trading restrictions to small businesses across the country.

To support local high street businesses to re-open safely, the council then provided parklets to other businesses in 2020. The scheme was a success, so was extended in 2021.

The council offers two types of parklet: original parklets, which consist of planters surrounding parking spaces, and upgraded parklets, which have integrated seating and modifications to make them level with the pavement. The vast majority of the parklets in Barnet are on parking spaces, although one sits on a wide pavement.

The parklets aim to support business recovery, create an improved pedestrian environment, positively contribute to the visitor and/or night-time economy, and give additional character to the high street.


Your views are important to us

We are currently undertaking an evaluation of the parklets scheme to date. We want to reflect on what has worked and what hasn’t, to help consider the best way to deliver the scheme in future.

We want to hear the views on parklets from a wide range of stakeholders, including Barnet residents, as well as from those who work, visit or study in the borough. We particularly want to hear from residents who use Barnet’s high streets and are familiar with the town centre parklets.

We are also engaging with businesses in town centres to gather their views. If you are a business owner or manager that we have not spoken to, please email niall.lees@barnet.gov.uk to discuss the programme.


How to have your say:

Complete our online questionnaire

We are keen to hear your views on the scheme to date and encourage you to have your say by completing our online questionnaire.

If you would like to request a paper questionnaire or another format please:

  • alternatively you can write to us at write to us at Parklets Consultation, Niall Lees, London Borough of Barnet, 2 Bristol Avenue, Colindale, London, NW9 4EW.

If you would like someone to help you complete the questionnaire or need more information, please contact us using one of the above methods.


What happens after the consultation closes?

The council will use the consultation findings to inform our final decision. We will publish the results of the consultation, our decision and how we are acting on the results of the consultation on this web page in January 2024.

This consultation has now closed.

  • We asked, you said, we did

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    We asked

    We asked for your views on the council’s parklets scheme. This scheme has seen small seating areas take over car parking spaces in the borough’s town centres. Parklets was first implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2020, as businesses had their trading spaces reduced due to government restrictions. They provide more outdoor seating space, either for a business or the wider community.

    The council embarked on an evaluation of the programme in October 2023, and as part of this wanted to get the views on it from residents and other users of Barnet’s town centres. This evaluation sought to look at the effects and the success of the programme.

    We asked questions linked to the objectives of the programme, such as whether you thought the parklets had improved the pedestrian environment or the character of the town centre was improved. We also asked for feedback on what people liked, disliked and would change about the parklets, along with suggestions for winter uses of parklets, when the weather is often too cold to sit outside.

    You said

    Many thanks to residents and businesses for taking the time to provide feedback.

    There were 931 responses to our online questionnaire, along with an additional seven emails sent feeding back directly on the scheme.

    In terms of the following statements:

    • ‘The character of the town centre is improved with the parklets in place’: 72% of respondents disagreed, 22% of respondents agreed and 7% neither agreed nor disagreed or did not know.

    • ‘I like having the parklets in place in Barnet’s town centres’: 74% of respondents disagreed, 21% of respondents agreed and 6% neither agreed nor disagreed or did not know.

    • ‘The overall environment for pedestrians has improved with the parklets in place’: 70% of respondents disagreed, 20% of respondents agreed and 9% neither agreed nor disagreed or did not know.

    • ‘I am more likely to frequent a business if it has a parklet in place’: 74% of respondents disagreed, 14% of respondents agreed and 12% neither agreed nor disagreed or did not know.

    • ‘I would use a parklet as a seating area without using the business (such as when it is closed or if it was not linked to a business)’: 70% of respondents disagreed. 16% of respondents agreed and 15% neither agreed nor disagreed or did not know.

    When asked what they disliked or would change about the parklets, major themes in the responses included: preferring the spaces being used for parking, that they are not well maintained, and that some are used for anti-social behaviour. Comments on what people liked about the parklets included the added greenery on the high street and having somewhere outdoor to sit in summer. There were more comments stating what people disliked or would change about the parklets than what they liked.

    Notable suggestions on winter uses for parklets included market stalls, or the reversion to parking bays.

    We did

    This engagement has formed part of a wider evaluation of the parklets programme. Alongside this, we have also engaged with other stakeholders, and surveyed local businesses.

    All feedback will now feed into the wider programme evaluation, as well as recommendation for how to progress the programme. A further update will be given on the evaluation and next steps on Engage Barnet at a later date.