Neighbour Day is great day to think about street play

25 March 2022

Waverley Council is celebrating Neighbour Day on Sunday 27 March with a reminder about Council’s fantastic street play initiative.

Residents can apply to host a street play event in their street to help keep children active and bring communities together.

A street play event involves people congregating within a section of road that has been temporarily closed to traffic.  Vehicular access for residents and emergency services would still be possible under guidance. It is an event:

  • organised and funded by residents
  • with only up to 100 people attending
  • without external publicity
  • in a single or linked couple of streets
  • that doesn’t have structures such as stages
  • doesn’t require any licence

Street play is for neighbours to organise with some support from Council. It is intended for residents living in the same street plus, of course, some of their friends if they wish. It is not:

  • an event that attracts people from outside the immediate community
  • an event with products (food or otherwise) for sale unless authorised by Council
  • a party advertised on social media to the general public

Participating streets would be closed to traffic to allow children and families to play and socialise safely.

Mayor of Waverley, Paula Masselos, said Neighbour Day is a great opportunity to have a chat with your neighbours about planning a street play event and applying to Council, to grow local connections and respectful community relationships.

“With more apartments and houses built on smaller blocks of land, the capability to be able to play on the street is an important opportunity for children and families” Mayor Masselos said. 

“There are a lot of streets around Waverley that don’t receive a lot of traffic at certain times and would be ideal for street play.

“Waverley Council recognises the importance of bringing people together to create a stronger and more resilient community, better able to tackle any unexpected challenges as a united front.

“As a member of Resilient Sydney, we are working to tackle declining social cohesion and to create stronger communities who are better prepared to respond and recover from shocks and stresses.”

For more information about our street play initiative, click here or contact Customer Service on 9083 8000 or info@waverley.nsw.gov.au. You can also read our quick guide for applicants here.

Neighbour Day is a project of Relationships Australia, a national not for profit organisation that believes in the power of the Australian community to support its most vulnerable, to tackle loneliness, and to work together to ensure respectful relationships throughout the pandemic, and beyond.

Relationships Australia and Waverley Council remind people to stay safe when gathering and Council encourages people to continue to get vaccinated and observe all home isolation requirements.

To share your Neighbour Day experience online, tag @resilientsydney, #ResilientSydney, #EveryDayIsNeighbourDay #neighbourday2022.

Street Play fun facts:

  • Almost 20 street play events have been held in Waverley since the start of the initiative
  • Parties have been held across the Waverley LGA from Bondi Beach, Bondi Junction and North Bondi to Rose Bay, Bronte and Queens Park.
  • Bronte and Bondi Junction have been the most popular suburbs for number of street parties held. Some streets have held parties more than once.
  • The most popular reasons for hosting a street play event are kids parties and holiday celebrations.