Oldham Council is inviting parents and residents to learn more about pioneering schemes aimed at making the roads around our primary schools safer and healthier for pupils.
On June 5 the council will start piloting a School Street at St Anne’s Primary School, Royton.
School Streets enable children and their parents to walk, cycle or wheel to and from school, which reduces air pollution, congestion, and problem parking.
To ensure School Streets work properly, certain roads around the schools will be opened to people walking, cycling or wheeling (eg scooters) only. School streets are in operation at drop off and pick up, during term times.
Getting to and from school in this way can help parents and children to feel fitter and healthier as well as being able to chat along the way.
Only those with a permit, including residents and businesses, will be able to get access. The restriction won’t apply to emergency vehicles, blue badge holders or essential deliveries.
Those dropping off or picking up pupils will not be able to drive into the closed streets, but can still park further away from school, if they need to, and walk the last part of the journey.
A ‘hands up’ survey held in the school found on average 125 cars are being driven to the school twice a day, even though the majority of pupils live within 0.68 miles.
Sue Holt, Headteacher at St Anne’s said: “We are looking forward to working with Oldham Council to improve safety around our school.
“The roads around our school get very busy and this congestion puts our children and families at risk. We hope this scheme will help to eliminate dangerous parking and encourage more families to walk to school.”
Similar schemes have been successfully introduced across the country.
Once this first School Street is live we will continue to work with a number of other schools, with more schemes set to go live over the coming months.
The council, via the schools, are inviting parents, nearby residents and businesses to a drop-in event so they can find out more information. An online session has also been arranged for those who cannot attend in person. Email active.travel@oldham.gov.uk for more information and the event link.
Letters have also been sent to properties on the affected roads.
An Experimental Traffic Regulation Order is in place for the new measures and there will be opportunities over the coming months for residents, businesses, parents and the schools to give their feedback on the schemes and how they are working.
Emma Barton, Executive Director for Place and Economic Growth, said: “Problem parking and congestion is an issue at schools across the country, not just in Oldham.
“Idling vehicles also pollute the air that pupils breathe.
“We are introducing School Streets to help address these issues. We want to reduce parking issues and queuing traffic while at the same time helping to improve air quality and road safety.
“Schemes like School Streets encourage active travel – if we get our children into a routine of walking and cycling from a young age it will stay with them for years.”
The council secured funding of almost £85,000 from Transport for Greater Manchester and the Department for Transport to pay for the introduction of the schemes.
If you would like to find out more about School Streets visit the website www.oldham.gov.uk/school-streets or if you think your school would benefit from one, email active.travel@oldham.gov.uk