Beat the Street Burnley and Outdoor Town Vision initiative returns

Thousands of the town’s residents of all ages have become veterans of the active travel game which has taken place in Burnley in 2021 and 2023 to encourage people to ditch the car and to instead embrace physical activity.

The game returns this time from Wednesday, May 14th to June 25th, and as in the previous game, as well as encouraging people to get more active, teams can also earn trees that they can plant at the end of the game. For every 2,000 points a team earns, they will win a tree to be planted at the end of the game on a school site, or in one of the dedicated locations.

Beat the Street Burnley has been brought to you through a local partnership including, Burnley Borough Council, Lancashire County Council, Burnley Leisure and Culture, Canal and River Trust and other partners. It is supported via the National Lottery Community Fund and Sport England. It is being delivered by Intelligent Health.

Alexis Turner, engagement coordinator for Beat the Street Burnley, said: “It’s back! Beat the Street is a free, interactive game that not only helps people become healthier, but also has many community benefits such as improving air quality, congestion and pollution, and connects people to their communities and green spaces.

While the game has been played in more than 120 locations across the UK, the Burnley game is unique in that we will reward teams with free trees that they can plant later in the year. Trees have incredible benefits for the environment, community, individuals and for helping people to connect to nature which has a positive impact on mental wellbeing and physical health.

“Beat the Street works by introducing competition and prizes to encourage people to make positive behaviour changes to their lifestyle, such as travelling actively to school or work, spending more time outdoors and discovering the assets of their community. When the game took place in 2023, more than 12,000 people from across Burnley took part, and we look forward to thousands more playing this year.”

Once again, beeping and flashing sensors called Beat Boxes will be placed on lampposts around the town for the duration of the game to help participants explore the local area and all it has to offer and to develop the habit of regular activity. Primary school pupils will receive player packs to enable them to play with a parent or guardian.

Players in the community can either collect a free card from a distribution point listed on www.beatthestreet.me/burnley or alternatively, players aged 13+ can download the free Beat the Street app.

Players then walk, cycle, run, scoot or wheel between the Beat Boxes which are spaced about half a mile apart – hovering their cards over the Beat Boxes to score points. The further players travel, the more points they score for their community or school team. The first Beat Box you hover your card over marks the start of your journey

For schools and community teams, there is a total points leaderboard and an average leaderboard, so opportunities for teams of all sizes to win prizes.