Street parties are coming to Kingston next month as residents heed the council's call to join in World Car Free Day on September 22.

The global event, designed to promote traffic-free city centres worldwide, is being supported by the Mayor of London and up to 150,000 Londoners are expected to play an active role in the celebrations.

Kingston Council (RBK) revealed that many residents had already applied for permits to close specific roads in town for street parties as it encouraged others to get involved.

On Monday (August 12), RBK announced it had extended the deadline for applications and that all applications for road closures submitted by Friday would be free.

"World Car Free Day is Sunday 22 September 2019 and residents across Kingston are already planning street parties.

"To help celebrate we've extended the application deadline to 16 August and road closures will be free!

"Apply now and help Kingston go car free," a council spokesperson said on Twitter.

Consequently, residents now have until Friday (August 16) to apply for a road closure in their area in order to hold a street party.

If the planned party is for residents in the borough, it won't cost anything either, RBK said, with the caveat that residents might want to consider taking out public liability insurance if they are planning a street party.

World Car Free Day was launched as a coordinated global campaign back in in the mid nineties but has since devolved more into city-specific campaigns such as those run by London and other major cities around the world including Jakarta (Indonedia), Bogota (Colombia) and Toronto (Canada).

Host cities typically promote walking and cycling in city centres free of traffic on the day itself, while street parties such as those coming to Kingston next month are also common.

Residents interested in closing a road and hosting a street party can apply by this Friday on the RBK website.