News on Raploch Street Design

The Rebel Writers group has been involved in the Raploch Street Design project from the start. They are a writing group from Raploch Primary who came to our Launch event in September to share their ideas for the street, and after that they wrote a series of letters with their suggestions.

The 23rd of October they took part in a walking audit of the Raploch Road, in which they explained what they liked and disliked about their surroundings, and whether they felt safe crossing the road.

Their input has been very valuable to us, and we are overwhelmed by their enthusiasm and their ability to think about the needs of all community members. We hope to keep working with them throughout the project.

These are excerpts from the letters they wrote after the launch event:

Letter #1

Raploch Primary- 4th October

Dear Raploch Street Design Project,

I have been thinking about the Raploch Road Project and I have some ideas on what we could do to make a better place.

My first suggestion is traffic lights because I have seen a few car crashes next to the shop.

My second suggestion is benches just in case old people or people that are out jogging, they can sit down.

My third suggestion is healthy shop because all of the shops are sugar shops so people can stay nice and healthy.

I hope you like my suggestions.

Letter #2

…My first suggestion is more benches because if people get tired they can have a place to sit. My second suggestion is a place for bikes to ride on because there are cars coming and people can get hurt really badly…

Letter #3

…My first suggestion is metal benches because they might last longer and be harder to vandalise and be better quality. My second suggestion is retaring the roads because there’s holes and maybe a pointy bit sticking out may give a car a flat tire! My third suggestion is traffic lights because too many people cut other people off and there are some accidents (by the way my dad has got cut off before!)

Letter #4

…My first suggestion is to have a fruit shop to improve how much fruit we eat a year. My second suggestion is for metal benches so they don’t go damp…

They also wrote about their experience at the October walking audit. These excerpts have been transcribed exactly as they were written:

Letter #1

On Thursday 23 October rebel writers took part in a street audit of Raploch Road.

First of all we went to the fire station. The people where alredy ther. We told them what we like and don’t like abour raploch road. We looked at the road in front of the fire station. We liked some things about it but it can defenetly get better. We told them lots of things they can improve with. We all liked the view.

Our second destanashion was where the Londis shop was. We cheked the road and this is what we told them. We told them that it is dangeris because you can not see one road. We olso told them that it was a rilly bumpy pavement so prams and skate borders can fal over.

Our last destanashion is the end of Raploch Road. We told them a lot of things. We told them that they should make a big park where the field was because it could be a rilly fun park and lots of people would like it.

Letter #2

… I would like them to mark zebra crossings and traffic lights. I liked the chocolate and getting out for fresh air and discussing things with friends…

Letter #3

At the last stop we were at Drip road and we said good and bad things again. A good thing was that there was a lot of nature around and a bad thing was you could not see all angles that the car is coming from…

Letter #4

…Finally we walked down to the end of the road and sat down and did our final suggestions and we turned over the page and rated. Lastly we got chocolate and a caprisun and when back to school…

Letter #5

…I would like to think that they will use my suggestions and when I am older and I walked down that street I will see our hard work.