Draft HARROW COUNCIL SCHOOL TRAVEL PLAN STRATEGY 1.0 INTRODUCTION............................................................................. 2 2.0 MAIN PROBLEMS AND OPPORTUNITIES.................................... 3 2.1 The School Run and Car Use ...................................................... 3 2.3 Walking to School ........................................................................ 4 2.4 Parental Safety Concerns ............................................................ 4 2.5 Parental Choice for school admission.......................................... 4 3.0 PAST AND ONGOING INITIATIVES TO ADDRESS PROBLEMS.. 5 3.1 Safe Routes to School Programme.............................................. 5 3.2 Road Safety Education ................................................................ 5 3.3 Council’s Provision of School Transport ...................................... 6 4.0 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES................................................................ 6 5.0 STRATEGY ..................................................................................... 7 5.1 Development of School Travel Plan (STP) and Related Measures . 7 6.0 IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAMME.............................................. 10 6.1 Setting up a School Travel Plan................................................. 10 Draft 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 There is an increasing problem with the number of children who are taken to and from school by car. Over the last few years, car use on the school run has increased causing traffic congestion, increased pollution, and risk of accidents to children and adverse impacts on their health and the local environment. The concerns about the problems are present at nearly all the school sites and some head teachers/school staff and parent governors regularly patrol and advise parents about travel and road safety issues outside the school gates. Added to these is loss of opportunities for children to acquire the necessary skills to be streetwise and lead a healthier lifestyle through walking and cycling. 1.2 The Government’s Transport White Paper and the Mayor of London’s Transport Strategy place strong emphasis on addressing the problems associated with car travel to school. School travel has therefore been identified by both the UK Government and the London Mayor as a priority area where intervention to reduce the ‘school run’ could offer many transport and health benefits. Suggested interventions include those proposed in the 1998/99 STAG (School Travel Advisory Group) report. They include: • Better use of resources allocated to statutory schools transport. • Training for children on how to travel safely and responsibly as cyclists, pedestrians or passengers. • Improvements within and around schools (such as provision of lockers, secure cycle storage and bus bays). • Affordable bus-travel to school for all children in compulsory education. • Campaigns to raise driver awareness of relevant issues. • Improved enforcement of speed, parking and other traffic regulations. • Involving other relevant players (such as recognition of school travel plan (STP) initiatives in the school curriculum, training for school governors, incentives for teachers and other school staff to promote STP and linkage with health initiatives including Health Improvement Plans). 1.3 With nearly 90 schools and some 33,000 pupils in the borough, school travel is a major issue for Harrow Council. It is increasingly concerned about the number of children who are taken to and from school by car. 1.4 Targets have been set by the Department of Transport (DfT), Transport for London (TfL) and the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) to require local authorities to see that all schools adopt School Travel Plans by the year 2010. There is also a target set by the DfT and the London Mayor to reduce accidents to children by 50% by the year 2010. Additionally, the London Mayor, in the guidance for Local Implementation Plans (LIP), is requiring local authorities to review road safety and travel issues with schools and or groups of schools by 2008. 1.5 In the light of this, the Council welcomes all national and regional policy-initiatives to reduce the school-run related problems. Harrow has also actively pursued many initiatives to encourage walking, cycling and bus use on the school journey. These include highway measures, Draft safer routes to school (SRtS) programme, pedestrian training, cycle training, walking buses, supply of maps showing location of schools and the nearest cycle and bus routes and walk to school week. 1.6 Progress to date suggests that there is considerable scope for reducing the number of cars parked at the school gate and that the co- operation, support and participation of school and local communities are an important criterion for success. Further progress will not be possible without this continued involvement. Harrow will continue to forge effective partnerships in its implementation of its School Travel Strategy. 1.7 The development of a School Travel Strategy will provide an opportunity for the school community to become more involved in travel issues and increase awareness for safety and environmental concerns in the local area. It will also promote the benefits of walking, cycling and use of public transport as a sustainable alternative to the car. 2.0 MAIN PROBLEMS AND OPPORTUNITIES 2.1 The School Run and Car Use 2.1.1 Surveys carried out in Harrow during the recent walk-to-school week indicates that X% of pupils travel to school, by car with proportionately fewer children walking (W%), cycling (C%) or using public transport (P%). The proportion travelling to school by car in Harrow is high compared to the national average, which itself has seen the doubling of car use since 1990. The school run has therefore been a major contributor to traffic congestion on Harrow’s roads at peak periods. 2.1.2 Use of car is exacerbated by the fact that the density of public transport is generally low. A map of Harrow’s public transport accessibility level (PTAL) shows that many parts of Harrow (except for a few isolated areas around major town centres) are poorly served. This reflects the generally lower population and/or land use density. For a large section of the population living in these poorly served areas, use of public transport is an inadequate option. This means that some parents understandably feel there is no alternative to the car, especially if the school is some distance away and cannot practically be reached walking or cycling. 2.1.3 In addition, Harrow has one on the highest level of car ownership in London with X% of households owning at least a car/van, and Y% owning 2 or more cars. As a result, many households may own a second car that is available for the school journey, and are therefore more inclined to drive children to school. 2.2 Cycling to School Draft 2.2.1 Schools have shown a reluctance to allow pupils to cycle to school because of parking and security problems. Parents have echoed this reluctance because of the perceived dangers to young cyclists. Recent initiatives by Transport for London in supplying secure cycle parking facilities may help to address at least one of these problems. There is increasing interest being shown by schools to the promotion and use of cycles and many now ask for evidence from pupils that they have attended a training course before allowing them to ride to school. 2.2.2 The promotion of cycling to school children is included in the regular visits made to schools who are now looking at ways of including some form of practical training for pupils. Links to schools from the local cycle networks will provide better and safer access for pupils who want to use cycles on the school run 2.3 Walking to School 2.3.1 Encouraging children to walk or cycle to school will improve their health and also for first and middle school pupils will give them the road safety skills needed when they transfer to the High schools and travel on their own. The lack of road skills and awareness is apparent with current high proportion of road casualties in the 11-14 age group. The development of School Travel Plans (a by-product of this school travel strategy) will assist schools to promote road safety and support a change in travel modes. The programme of Safe Routes to School is also providing improvements on the main walking routes by providing new or improved crossing points and better pavement areas around schools. 2.4 Parental Safety Concerns 2.4.1 Busy roads, increased car use and pressures on parents mean that vehicle congestion on the “school run” is increasing and the number of pupils walking or cycling is decreasing. Many parents feel that they have no other alternative than to drive their children to and from school because of fears for the children’s safety both from traffic and other issues. As traffic congestion increases, these fears get worse, and so does the traffic congestion. Parents will need reassurance and convincing that they and their child will be able to use the roads safely if there is to be a significant shift in travel mode. 2.5 Parental Choice for school admission 2.5.1 Parents do need to be encouraged to select schools that are within easy and safe walking distance. Harrow currently gives parents a choice of which school their children attend based on a “Road Priority List” with four levels, but it is limited by the availability of places. Many children are most likely to be offered a place at their local school, which would normally be within walking distance. However, some parents exercise their rights to choose by selecting other schools that are further away from home. Such parents are more likely to use the car for the school journey because of travel difficulties. This results in higher levels of car use. The Council also Draft has a number of “faith” schools that attract pupils from within and outside the whole borough. These again tend to attract a larger number of car journeys. 2.4.1 From 2005, new admission rules will apply. This will give parents a choice of school, but where a school is oversubscribed new criteria for admission have been developed.