image005The Council is offering the opportunity for communities to nominate a road to be closed off on Sunday 25 September 2016 to enable local events to take place in the street.

A Car Free Day event encourages motorists to give up using their cars for a day.  These events have been held since 1973 but have become more organised since the International Accessible Cities Conference in 1994.  

European Car Free Day is 22 September 2016 is.  However, the Council has opted for a day over the weekend to make it easier for both residents and visitors to have more time to enjoy the benefits of the events taking place in their street.    It is intended that the roads selected will be closed between 1000 and 1700 hours to allow access before and after the event(s).     

If your community would like to organise an event and close down a road in your area for the day then we would like to hear from you.   Think big – we are open to ideas for main roads – not just side streets.  Once we’ve established the level of interest and got your nominations in, we will decide what roads can be closed to support this event. 

The Council will organise and cover the cost of the Temporary Road Closures and advance publicity and, where appropriate, arrange for buses to be re-routed.  Your group would be responsible for fund-raising and the organisation of the event.  Try this link for possible funders  http://www.open4community.info/edinburgh/Default.aspx 

There are no rules as to what you might put on – it can be a street party, play street, street market (although this would probably require a licence), sports day, concert whatever – so long as the community supports it and it doesn’t involve cars! 

If you are interested in pursuing this opportunity please can you submit a note of interest to Pam Brown (pamela.brown@edinburgh.gov.uk), Partnership Development Officer by Friday, 15th July 2016.   Can you let us know which road you would like to close off along with an outline of your proposed event.  

The Council would like to make this an annual event if it’s a success so get your proposals in.