Hackney among ten contenders for first ever walking neighbourhood award

Rambling paradise: Springfield is one of 58 parks in the borough. Photograph: Hackney Council

Hackney has been nominated for the inaugural Britain’s Best Walking Neighbourhood Award, national charity Ramblers has announced.

The pro-walking charity created the awards to celebrate the UK’s best strolling spots and asked the public to pick their favourites.

Hackney made the final shortlist along with nine other areas, including nearby Walthamstow and not-so-nearby Dumfries.

A public vote is now underway to choose a winner, and it closes on 14 March.

Ramblers chief executive Vanessa Griffiths said: “The ten neighbourhoods shortlisted for our award have been designed or improved to prioritise people on foot.

“We’re celebrating these areas, and asking more local authorities to think about how they could make small changes in design to improve walkability, to help improve the health and wellbeing of residents.”

Local author and London expert Travis Elborough said: “As a Hackney resident with no garden, and a freelance writer who spends most their working days chained to a desk, I find a walk around the block that takes in a park, or at least a patch of green here and there, is essential to my sanity.

“My preferred urban ramble is around Stoke Newington – here a circuit can be made that takes in a graveyard, a high street, an historic church, a park and even, at a push, the childhood home of glam rocker Marc Bolan.”

I walked to all 58 parks in #Hackney to prove it’s great for walking – Ramblers have nominated the borough for Britains Best Walking Neighbourhood, get your vote in now -> https://t.co/gUOQHnnNkw @mayorofhackney @greenerhackney @hackneycouncil @hackneycitizen @lovehackney pic.twitter.com/bIGFmZLwsg

— Oliver HicksPattison (@oliverhp) February 26, 2018

Ramblers member Oliver Hicks-Pattison celebrated Hackney’s nomination by walking to all of the borough’s 58 parks in one day – a 20-mile feat that he says took roughly eight hours.

Hicks-Pattison took a selfie in every park and put together a nine-second video which he shared on Twitter.

Hackney Council’s latest road closure plans have faced opposition from residents, but transport chief Cllr Feryal Demirci says they are part of an ongoing strategy to encourage more walking and cycling.

To cast your vote for Britain’s Best Walking Neighbourhood, please visit the Ramblers website here