Highways Bulletin: Reimagining Parking with Green Design

Published on: 13 Jul, 2025
Updated on: 15 Jul, 2025

The information for this bulletin comes from Surrey County Council and is written by them.

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A show garden by Surrey County Council has won a silver medal at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival, showcasing how parking spaces can become vibrant green havens.

The garden features three parking space-sized areas that will soon move to real streets in Surrey:
• Walton parklet – with trees and plants to filter air pollution and offer shade.
• Cranleigh rain garden – using climate-resilient planting to manage stormwater and reduce flooding.
• Guildford parklet – built from reclaimed materials and designed to boost

biodiversity, with pollinator-friendly plants, bird baths, and playful elements for people and wildlife.

To highlight the difference, a fourth space simply holds an electric car – showing visitors what else could be achieved in the same footprint. Judges praised the garden as ‘astonishingly clever’, offering a calming retreat right in the heart of the street.

The garden also received an RHS Environmental Innovation award for its sustainable design.

Funded through local placemaking schemes, the project was supported by volunteers, young people, community groups and private sponsors – proving that together we can reimagine our streets for people, nature, and cleaner air.

Matt Furniss, Surrey County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Economic Growth, said: “Receiving the silver medal at one of the country’s best known garden festivals is a real honour. It reflects the ambition for our towns and villages that Surrey County Council is showcasing this week.

“The show garden demonstrates how we can provide a better balance between roads and pedestrians in our town centres and provide attractive and functional areas which will encourage people to visit, stay longer and support our vital local economies.

“But they also show how local government, volunteers and the private sector can work together to design and create community spaces, offering vital training to our young people along the way. I would like to thank every person and organisation which has helped create these gardens which will be on the streets of Surrey in the coming weeks for everyone to enjoy.”

For more information on the show garden – RHS show garden wins silver medal for showing alternative green uses for parking spaces

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