Our Healthy School Streets programme aims to improve the street environment outside schools across the Borough.
We want to make sure that children breathe cleaner air, are safe from cars near the school gates and choose to walk and cycle to school. This will help us create active and healthy environments near our schools.
What is the Healthy School Streets programme?
The Healthy School Streets programme proposes a series of interventions outside of schools to improve air quality, and encourage more families to make journeys to school on foot or by bike.
In August 2019, we installed air quality monitoring devices outside 96 schools in the Borough to monitor levels of air pollution and to determine which schools are impacted the most. We are working with local schools to consider how we can improve the street environment outside their school.
This could include:
- Improving footways and pedestrian crossings
- Placing drop kerbs at desirable crossing locations
- Improving cycle routes and cycle facilities
- Introducing timed road closures near school entrances at pick-up and drop-off times
- Providing more planted areas near schools
- Installing green planted screens to shield school entrances or playgrounds from emissions
- Setting up a ‘walking bus’ programme where local children walk together to school, accompanied by a responsible adult.
Why are Healthy School Streets being proposed?
The purpose of our Healthy School Streets programme is to:
- Improve local air quality near the school
- Make it safer and easier to walk or cycle to school
- Encourage children, parents and carers to have an active journey to school
- Make it safer for school children to cross the road with less cars parked or waiting and obstructing visibility
- Make the street environment outside of schools more attractive
- Reduce traffic on the road and improve traffic flows
- Make it easier for local residents who drive to enter and exit their street.
All restrictions run at morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up, Monday to Friday, during term time only, but weekday timings differ slightly at each school. However, there maybe occasions where enforcement takes place outside of school term time if there are school activities/events taking place.