Proposal for Public Seating

Seating isn't a luxury — it's basic infrastructure for a walkable town:

• Elderly residents can't rest at intervals, which limits how far they can safely go on foot

• Parents with young children have nowhere to pause near the shopping centre

• Students (1,800+ across our schools) have nowhere to sit at lunchtime or after school

• Everyone else benefits too — seating keeps people in town longer, which supports local businesses and makes the place feel welcoming rather than pass-through only

This is the question we hear most, so we've looked into it directly: research consistently shows that empty, unused spaces — not benches — are what attracts antisocial behaviour. Busy, well-located seating gets self-policed by the passers-by around it. The task is designing and siting benches well, not avoiding them. 

Design measures we'd build in

• High-visibility locations - Busy pedestrian routes give natural surveillance

• Anti-misuse design - Armrest dividers and forward-facing orientation discourage lying down

• Good lighting - Sites chosen alongside existing street lighting

• Youth co-design - Involving local young people in site selection builds ownership and reduces misuse — and they're entitled to public space too