Warwickshire News Mine

In Warwickshire 65 schools have been working hard on writing their School Travel Plans and are eagerly awaiting news on funding for on site improvements to encourage more active and environmentally friendly ways of travelling to school.

Around the county the school breakdown on the School Travel Plans is as follows:

13 in North Warwickshire
12 in Nuneaton Bedworth
13 in South Warwickshire
12 in Rugby
15 in Warwick and Leamington Spa

Cllr Martin Heatley, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Environment, said: “It’s more important than ever that schools tackle school travel issues as car use continues to increase.

“It is now estimated that during term time, in urban areas nearly one in four cars on our streets at 8.50am are on the school run. I think we all noticed the sudden reduction in traffic during the recent Easter holidays as 25% of school run traffic disappears, plus of course some commuters took time off with their families meaning the roads are less congested and commuter time is significantly lower.”

Karen Hall, School Travel Advisor, with Warwickshire County Council, went on to say that reliance on the car, as the most convenient mode of transport, is also a contributing factor to unhealthy lifestyles in the UK.

She said: “Active travel such as walking, cycling or riding scooters to school can be a great way for children and parents to get daily exercise. Recent studies have shown that one in four children (aged 11-15) in England are obese; this is double what it was ten years ago.”

Local authority maintained schools that write a School Travel Plan receive funding from the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department for Transport to improve their school grounds to encourage the whole school community to travel more sustainably. Schools can utilise the money to build cycle storage, pedestrian waiting shelters, lockers, paths, extra lighting, improvements to school access, cloakrooms, security and drainage amongst others.

Cllr Heatley added: “I am delighted to see such a high standard of plans submitted by Warwickshire schools with clear evidence of how all members of the school community including staff, parents and pupils have contributed to actions put forward to tackle the problem of the school run.”

Most schools will implement a number of hard and soft measures to achieve behaviour change including implementing reward schemes, road safety training including Kerbsafe and cycle training, recruiting parent volunteers for walking buses, re iterating the message in class work and to parents via newsletters, and meetings. Approaching local businesses in the community to support solutions such as Park and Stride sites.

In Studley all three primary schools, St Mary’s Catholic Primary, St Mary’s CE Junior School and Studley Community Infants are working together and have approached the local landlords and other businesses in an attempt to use car parking away from the school gates that may not be fully utilised at 8:50am. The local church and Barley Mow pub have both agreed to allow the parents to use their car parks for this means. This will help alleviate congestion outside the schools making the journey to school safer for all and it will also allow pupils to walk the remainder to school with their peers or family allowing them quality social interaction on the journey to school.

The School Travel Plan can also allow schools to create links and access other services at the council such as road safety measures, Safer Routes to School, Sustainable Schools and Healthy Schools.

Karen Hall added: “The School Travel Plan is a great starting point for schools to go on and tackle the problems that traffic generates in a focussed and measurable way. “

Ends

For more information contact Karen Hall on 01926 412454.

Link to WCC