Paths, grass and play areas may be added.Lambeth council in south London hopes a home zone in Streatham will be in place by next year. A spokesman said: "We are looking at road closures and possibly raising the carriageway so that roads are more geared to pedestrian use. A 10mph speed limit is something we are not actively looking at but it is something we will not rule out." At present local authorities have the power to impose 20mph limits.In April, the Government announced a £30m fund to set up 100 home zones. The scheme is already running at the Northmoor estate in Longsight, Manchester, and at Morice Town, Plymouth, with praise from Stephen Byers, the Secretary of State for Local Government.Ben Plowden of the Living Streets campaign, which supports the scheme, said home zones were intended to give pedestrians priority, without banning cars.
He said: "The aim is to design roads which are difficult to speed down. In Northmoor, speeds have been reduced from 17mph to 10mph."It is about creating a new atmosphere so that children can play on the streets and neighbours feel able to stay outside their houses and can talk."Home zones originated nearly 20 years ago in the Netherlands where there are now 6,000.An area of Ealing, west London, has also been selected for the pilot scheme, as have parts of Edinburgh, Dundee, Belfast and Leeds.. Two teenagers who set fire to a vagrant and left him to burn to death "for a laugh" were found guilty of murder yesterday and sentenced to a minimum of seven years' custody. Two teenagers who set fire to a vagrant and left him to burn to death "for a laugh" were found guilty of murder yesterday and sentenced to a minimum of seven years' custody. George Johnstone, a 41-year-old with a drink problem, had been sleeping on a park bench when Stephen Brookes, 16, and John Iveson, 13, burnt his clothes with firelighters. Despite his desperate attempts to douse the flames with the help of passers-by, he suffered severe burns and died.Mr Justice Bell described the boys' actions as "cruel beyond belief" and took the unusual step of naming them.
There was a "strong and proper public interest in identifying those who have committed crime as serious as this". He ordered that they be detained at Her Majesty's Pleasure for at least seven years before being considered for parole.Though the judge said Stephen showed no "real" remorse and John had none , he was satisfied they had not intended to kill Mr Johnstone, but to cause him serious injury.The jury at Maidstone Crown Court took more than four hours to convict them. While the younger boy burst into tears after hearing the verdict, the older teenager showed no emotion. Both of them had denied murder, blaming each other for the crime.Detective Inspector Tim Lewis, who led the investigation, said: "It is very difficult to imagine the pain and shock that Mr Johnstone must have undergone before he died of his injuries."The court was told that Stephen, of Northfleet, and John, of Dartford, had found Mr Johnstone asleep on a bench in Central Park, Dartford, on 15 June.They initially set fire to his beard. Mr Johnstone awoke to extinguish the flames but fell back into a drunken sleep, unable to appreciate what was happening.
