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A new, first-of-its-kind Night Time Strategy for Wandsworth was officially launchedin November 2023 and you can now download the PDFor flick through the interactive document.

London’s Night Czar, Amy Lamé and Wandsworth Council’s Deputy Leader Cllr Kemi Akinola headed up the launch, celebrating this important milestone for Wandsworth, London, and beyond.

The document sets out the borough’s strategic vision for the evening and night-time, focusing on:

Drawn up following extensive input from people who live, work and visit the area at night, inclusivity is at the heart of the Strategy and the document seeks to respond to all the feedback the Council received over the course of the project, hoping to truly improve the night-time for all.

Thanks to everyone that contributed!

Check out our interactive consultation reports on the Ideas Mapand First Draft Night Time Strategyconsultations, and our phase one consultation report to see how we got here.

Wandsworth is the first borough to deliver a Night Time Strategy since the GLA recommended that all boroughs produce one. It will now set the precedent for future Night Time Strategies across London.

The strategy includes recommendations such as better lighting and transport and encouraging a broader range of night time businesses in town centres – beyond just eating and drinking.

Now that the Strategy has launched, the council will produce an action plan and work with partners including Transport for London, the Met police, businesses and community groups to deliver improvements. It will also be considered by the council when making planning, highways, community safety and licensing decisions.

Deputy council leader Cllr Kemi Akinola said:

Amy Lamé, London’s Night Czar, said:

More information on the project can be found on the Council’s website.

If you have any questions or would like to get in touch email us at NTS@wandsworth.gov.uk.

While we finalise the Wandsworth Night time Strategy document, we have begun consulting on a new Night Time Strategy for Richmond upon Thames, starting the same process we did for Wandsworth last year.

Though they are two very different boroughs, we know that some of you in Wandsworth visit or work in Richmond, or have friends and family there too, so if you have any feedback on Richmond at night please give us your views and send this around to your networks.

Join us in developing this Night Time Strategy for Richmond borough by pinning your views on our interactive mapor leaving your feedback on our quick survey.

As with the Wandsworth Night Time Strategy, this Richmond Strategy will cover all aspects of the night time between 6pm and 6am, from transport and lighting to shop fronts and safety, and provide recommendations for improvement. We are particularly interested in conditions for night workers, minority groups, women, young and older people, and anyone else that feels excluded after dark.

Have your say now and help us in our journey to make Richmond a more vibrant and safer place. Tell us where you feel unsafe, where you want more or less activity and the places you would like us to improve at night. This information will help us build a clearer picture of night time activity in the borough, as well as to understand concerns and aspirations for specific areas.

This consultation will be open until end of September 2023.

We’ll be updating you soon on the Wandsworth Night Time Strategy too....

You can download the strategy as a PDF hereand leave comments hereor read it online using the interactive image on the homepage hereto navigate the document.

We want to hear from all people who live, work and visit the borough at night, so tell us what you think! You can leave comments on all the recommendations, or just the parts that interest you.

The consultation ends this Sunday 14 May 2023.

Our Night Time Ideas Map collected over 770 responses, with over 50% of people saying better lighting would help them feel safer at night. Well-designed lighting can make high streets feel more welcoming and make it easier for people to walk and cycle at night.

Several areas were described as poorly lit, which was particularly prevalent for women and girls. Wandsworth Park, Battersea Park and Tooting Common were two of the most discussed places. One respondent noted:

The council has a duty to protect biodiversity in parks and greenspaces. This means that many are deliberately left as ‘dark sky spaces’ or ‘dark corridors’. Many local park friends’ groups, communities and other stakeholders are keen to prevent the loss of dark skies in Wandsworth caused by light pollution.

In urban areas like Balham station railway bridge, Balham Travelodge, Southfields station and the surrounding area received a significant amount of feedback regarding poor lighting, although some comments are more positive.

Whilst there are mixed opinions about appropriate lighting levels in different places, lots of teams in the council are involved in decisions about lighting: from highways and transport, parks and biodiversity to planning.

Wandsworth councillors have recently voted to invest in improved LED lighting in Battersea Park. Capital funding has also been allocated to bridge lighting projects and to bespoke boroughwide street lighting, however details of where this street lighting will be placed isn’t available yet.

Get involved:

Please read the strategy online and use the interactive image on the homepage to navigate the document. You can leave comments on all the recommendations, or just the parts that interest you, by 14 May 2023.

Deputy council leader Cllr Kemi Akinola said:

If you would prefer to view the document as a PDF, you can view or download the document HERE.

Thank you for all your comments and feedback that have gone into shaping the strategy so far.

February 2023

The Night Time Strategy team attended the GLA’s inaugeral event at Woolwich Works, hosted by London’s Night Czar, Amy Lamé, to share our learning from developing the project in Wandsworth.

The conference, held in January of this year, bought together an impressive array of speakers from many backgrounds to share their night time experiences from London and beyond.

Councillor Kemi Akinola, Deputy Leader of Wandsworth Council and Cabinet attended the conference as a panellist for the ‘Big Debate 3: The future of London at night’. Cllr Akinola was joined on stage by artist Rosie Ferguson, writer & journalist Anna Minton, property specialist Kemi Oguntoye and planner Victoria Hills, chaired by landscape architect Deborah Nagan.

The discussion championed the need to recognise, value and protect spaces at night for young people, working class people and global majority people, as well as the need to keep ‘an edge’ to our city at night by avoiding cultural sanitisation and promoting affordability.

To end on the words of Charlie Dark, DJ & founder of Run Dem Crew: “We need to reclaim the night as a place of wonder and excitement”.

You can view all the illustrated summaries of talks and panels from the event here.

Thank you to the GLA 24-hour team for having us!

You can read the full report here.

Thank you to everyone who has shared feedback or been involved in an event so far. There will be more opportunities to have your say in 2023, but until then you can still leave comments on our interactive ideas map.

The Deconstructed Disco commission by artist Hanna Benihoud for the Night Time Strategy has launched in Clapham Junction. The opening event was attended by Deputy Mayor Sarmila Varatharaj, Councillor Kemi Akinola and Councillor Lizzy Dobres.

The musical artwork is inspired by night time emotions which were developed with local youth clubs and aims to rethink how we can use art to talk about our experiences of place. The project will also help gather more experiences about the night time and point people towards our digital ideas map.

A night time animation will be touring the rest of the borough in the lead up to the clocks going back on Sunday.

We are teaming up with the Wandsworth LGBTQ+ Forum for a workshop to come up with new ideas so we can better support the community at night.

We know Wandsworth has no dedicated LGBTQ+ spaces, which will be recommended in the strategy. But we also want to better understand the broad range of experiences people have out and about after dark and use the session to explore what a safe (and fun) night in Wandsworth looks like.

Be part of the conversation and help draft some co-created recommendations!

Join us: Tuesday 1st November 2022, 6.30-8.20pm Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill London SW11 5TN

Please note: Battersea Arts Centre is a fully accessible venue. Snacks will be provided and the bar will be open for anyone who’d like to stay for a drink afterwards.

Register here!

Banner image (a place for everyone illustration) designed by Isa Bascuñana

Artist Hanna Benihoud led the second evening session for the Night Time Strategy installation at Providence House youth club in Clapham Junction. Young people who go to Devas youth club down the road also joined in to help spray paint triangles for the new artwork.

When asked about their emotions at night, young people said they felt: 'hype', 'paranoid', 'relaxed', 'tired', 'eerie' and also 'fear'. We also talked about staying up late and feeling sleepless before a birthday and listened to music that matched the moods.

The artwork aims to spark conversations about the borough after 6pm (note: it's not a real disco!).

It will be open daily next to the Falcon Road Underpass in Clapham Junction from Wednesday 26th October - Sunday 30th October 2022, between 12 - 5pm. There will also be a series night time projections touring the borough between 7 -8pm every evening. We'll be sharing dates and locations for each night time screening soon.

Finally, thank you to everyone who has taken the time to leave a pin on the map - please share and help us to spread the word!

Artist Hanna Benihoud, who was appointed to design and build a day to night installation, worked with a group of 8 young women to talk about their night time experiences and come up with new ideas for the project. The participants will help Hanna build the installation that will be based in Falcon Road in October.

The day time installation will be installed by the Falcon Road underpass by Clapham Junction station, with a series of night time projects held at five different locations across the borough from the Wednesday 26th October - Sunday 30th October 2022.

Watch this space for upcoming opportunities and events!

The performance was created over a series of workshops that explored themes about women's safety, the design of public spaces and creative approaches to thinking about places. We held a workshop with the group as part of the development of the Night Time Strategy that went on to inform our recommendations.

You can find out more about Tara Theatre and Our Streets here.

Our Streets by Beth Kapila and Tara Theatre, performed April 2022

You can read more about the funding here.