School Streets: Blueprint launched to help families active travel
Active Travel England has launched a blueprint for local areas seeking to grow active travel, reduce noise and air pollution and boost road safety for children and families through School Streets.
School Streets may seem like a new fangled development or even another iteration of the manufactured car vs bike argument that scores political points and sells newspapers, but School Streets are actually 40 years old – the first created in Bolano, Italy in the late 1980s. True though, they are a more modern import in the UK: East Lothian Council in 2014 and the City of Edinburgh Council in 2015 were among the first, followed by the likes of Solihull, the London Borough of
Camden and then many other English local authorities.
Enabling the delivery of School Streets will support progress toward the objectives set in the second Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, in particular, the objective to increase the percentage of children aged 5 to 10 that usually walk to school from 49% in 2014 to 55% in 2025.
A School Street is defined as a road outside a school with a restriction on motorised traffic at the start and end of the school day. School Street schemes may cover part of a road, a whole road or even several roads near a school.
Across England, around 40% of all primary school children and 25% of secondary school children are driven to school by car/van – figures that have increased dramatically since the
mid-1970s. These figures vary significantly and can be influenced by factors such as school location and type of school.
Analysis by Transport for London found that during school term time 25% of all morning rush hour car trips in the capital relate to school drop offs, and outside London these figures may well be higher. The school run leads to congestion, noise and air pollution and road safety issues around schools and on the wider road network. Greater levels of active travel to and from school could help to address these issues, at the same time as improving the mental and physical health of pupils and their parents/carers.
Rachel Toms, Director of Urbanism at active travel charity Sustrans, said: “It’s great to see guidance from Active Travel England for setting up School Streets – one of the top ways to make it safer to travel actively to and from school, with benefits for children, families and the wider community.
“Sustrans has been transforming the school run for years, making it easier, cheaper, and fun, for millions of children across the UK to walk, wheel or cycle to school. Research suggests that by travelling actively to school, children are more alert and engaged in class, are healthier and enjoy spending quality time with their friends and family.
“We look forward to working with councils to realise their ambitions around making it easier to walk, wheel and cycle, giving children what they want – an enjoyable, healthy and sociable journey to school.”
The Sustrans Walking and Cycling Index (2023) found that 50% of those surveyed agree closing streets outside local schools to cars during drop-off and pick-up times would improve their local area. These are known as ‘School Streets’. Just 24% disagreed.
The blueprint outlines some of the benefits School Streets can bring:
• removal of congestion and reduction in emissions outside schools
• reduced instances of dangerous driving, parking and turning outside schools at times
of day when many children and families are present
• fewer road safety issues and improved perceptions of road safety
• increased levels of walking, wheeling and cycling to school
• enhanced opportunities for social interaction
• improved physical and mental health amongst pupils
• increased pupil independence
• developing early active travel habits which can be carried into later life
Not every street with a school on it would be realistically straightforward to turn into a School Street and the (27 page) document outlines best practice, local considerations, local buy-in and provides links to research and case studies.
