Parents – don’t deny children their wish to walk and cycle to school
Parents who are clogging up Warwickshire’s roads are being urged to listen to their children and abandon the car in favour of walking and cycling to school.
A recent survey has indicated that around 68% of pupils in Warwickshire would choose to walk or cycle to school whereas in reality only 46% do (*).
More than half of all children in Warwickshire now travel to school by car, but when asked, children say they’d much rather use an active mode of travel to get to school like walking or cycling.
Car use for the school run has increased dramatically in the last 20 years due to a number of different reasons.
Cllr Martin Heatley, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Environment, said: “Most families now have two parents working, often full time, and people are travelling longer distances to get to work. The majority of people don’t mind travelling an extra 15 minutes in the car to get to work, but they’ll not get up 15 minutes earlier to walk their children to school.”
Parents are also more concerned about safety nowadays and often cite this as the main reason for driving their children to school. But statistics show that the number of people killed on our roads halved between 1976 and 2006 and is at its lowest level since 1926. Not only that but at some schools congestion is so bad right outside the school gates that it’s the parents themselves that are causing the safety concern. If everyone parked a ten-minute walk away then the area around the school would be much safer.
Schools also have their part to play and could be working with parents to overcome their travel issues by developing a School Travel Plan. If they complete a plan, schools receive a capital grant to spend on things like cycle storage areas, sheltered areas for parents to wait, paths, fencing etc. The grants are:
For Primary Schools - £3750 + £5 per pupil
For Secondary and Special Schools - £5000 + £5 per pupil
Just under half of Warwickshire’s schools have so far taken advantage of the scheme, and more are being encouraged to develop a School Travel Plan.
And it’s not just school staff that can write a travel plan and gain a capital grant for the school. Parents, governors and even pupils can get involved.
Schools with a plan are enjoying the benefits including setting up walking buses, WOW – Walk on a Wednesday scheme and a new Trophy Scheme. The Trophy Scheme was devised by All Saints C of E Primary School in Nuneaton who regularly check and give a trophy to the class with the most children that travelled safely to school that day, without using the car.
Cllr Martin Heatley, added: “Wouldn’t it be great to see the area around our school gates free from traffic and safe for our children to walk. Parents can make all the difference either by walking and cycling with their children to school, by parking a ten minute walk from the school gates or by helping their school with their travel plan.”
For more information visit http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/schooltravelplans or http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/schooltravel