The School Street Programme

About the project

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What is a School Street?

The School Street Programme aims to create safer spaces around schools during school drop-off and collection times, to encourage pupils to walk, cycle and scooter on school journeys.

A School Street is a special Pedestrian and Cycle Zone (PCZ) which is created outside a school’s main entrance during term-time. They operate in the morning and afternoon during school drop-off and collection times, Monday to Friday. Signage on the roads informs drivers of the times of operation at the entrance(s) to the zone.

Vehicle movements are reduced during the operating times so that school children, their parents, carers and other visitors will have more space to walk, cycle or scoot.

The School Street trial

The School Street trial aimed to:

improve air quality by limiting the pollution from motor vehicles in the area
create a safer and more pleasant environment by limiting the potential dangers caused by motor vehicles
encourage more active travel, such as walking, cycling and scootering

The consultation

We consulted on making this scheme permanent over 18 months, up to March 2023.

The School Street Programme captured all provide feedback from schools, residents and businesses and met the following objectives.

the trial School Streets were successful in reducing motor vehicles with and without enforcement. However, we listened and incorporated CCTV cameras to further aid compliance at affected locations.
Active travel modes (walking/cycling/scooting) during the times of operation across all school locations averaged at 91.6%.
Air quality improvements were aimed for by reducing vehicle emissions. We achieved a reduction of 33% in morning drop off and 61% at afternoon collection times.
74% of people who responded to our questionnaire were in support of School Streets.

We made the decision to make the 11 trial locations a permanent feature on our roads and commit to introducing more through and agreed programme.