SCHOOL TRAVEL PLAN AND HOME TO SCHOOL TRAVEL AND TRANSPORT STRATEGIES 1. INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................. 2 2. SCHOOL TRAVEL POLICY CONTEXT............................................................. 3 2.1 NATIONAL....................................................................................................... 3 2.2 LONDON POLICY.............................................................................................. 8 2.3 HARROW POLICY ............................................................................................. 8 3. TARGETS ........................................................................................................... 11 3.1 TARGET REQUIREMENTS................................................................................. 11 3.2 HARROW PROGRESS IN MEETING TARGETS....................................................... 11 4 MAIN PROBLEMS AND OPPORTUNITIES..................................................... 12 4.1 THE SCHOOL RUN AND CAR USE .................................................................... 12 4.2 CYCLING TO SCHOOL ..................................................................................... 13 4.3 WALKING TO SCHOOL .................................................................................... 13 4.4 PARENTAL SAFETY CONCERNS ....................................................................... 13 4.5 APPLYING FOR A SCHOOL PLACE ..................................................................... 14 5.0 PAST AND ONGOING INITIATIVES TO ADDRESS PROBLEMS.............. 15 5.1 SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL PROGRAMME .......................................................... 15 5.2 ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION............................................................................. 15 5.3 COUNCIL’S PROVISION OF SCHOOL TRANSPORT (SEN)..................................... 15 6.0 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES .............................................................................. 16 7.0 STRATEGY..................................................................................................... 17 7.1 DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOL TRAVEL PLAN (STP) AND RELATED MEASURES...... 18 7.2 INTEGRATION OF SCHOOL TRAVEL PLANS WITH OTHER PROGRAMMES.............. 20 8.1 SETTING UP A SCHOOL TRAVEL PLAN ................................................... 21 9.0 CONSULTATION ON THE SCHOOL TRAVEL PLAN STRATEGY ........... 24 10.0 FUNDING........................................................................................................ 24 Updated: August 2007 1 1. INTRODUCTION This strategy has been written to meet the duty on local authorities to prepare and publish a sustainable school travel strategy as required by the Education and Inspections Act 2006, the Department for Children Schools and Families1 and Transport for London. There is an increasing problem with the growth in the number of children who are taken to and from school by car. The increase in school run traffic, impacts on the risk of accidents to children as well as contributing to traffic congestion and air pollution. It is also detrimental to children’s health as well as to the local environment. The concerns about the problems are present at nearly all the school locations 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 problems, there is a loss of opportunities for children to acquire the necessary skills to be streetwise and lead a healthier lifestyle through walking and cycling. The Home to School Travel and Transport Guidance published in May 2007 covers local authority duties and powers relating to sustainable school travel and the provision of school travel arrangements for children and young people. Further information about these revised requirements can be found in section 2.1.10. The new guidance states that a sustainable mode of travel strategy should be published annually on the council website. The school travel plan strategy has been updated and reflects current information, issues and actions to deliver viable school travel and transport solutions. This document will therefore meet the requirement to produce a sustainable mode of travel strategy. In addition relevant school travel policies have been revised to reflect the expanded eligibility criteria that will start to come into force from September 2007. The changes include free home to school transport for low income families based on distance and school preference based upon the grounds of religion or belief. 1 Formerly the Department for Education and Skills 2 2. SCHOOL TRAVEL POLICY CONTEXT National, regional and local polices have all helped in developing Harrow’s School Travel Plan Strategy. A selection of the key papers that have influenced Harrow’s strategy are identified here. 2.1 National 2.1.1 The Government White Paper, A New Deal for Transport: Better for Everyone, July 1988 set out the Governments proposals for an integrated transport policy to fight congestion and pollution. School travel plans form part of that policy. 2.1.2 Following the White Paper, the School Travel Advisory Group STAG was established. STAG members are parents, teachers and governors, business representatives, road safety and school transport experts and a range of local authorities from around the country. The aims of STAG are to reduce car use and improve children’s safety on the journey to and from school. 2.1.3 The Governments Green Paper on public health Our Healthier Nation, published in 1998, sets out an agenda to improve the health of the population and to reduce inequalities in health by addressing the wide range of factors that affect health. Transport, mobility and education are all identified as having a major role to play. The Healthy schools Initiative was jointly launched by the Department of Health and Department for Education and Employment in May 1998. The objective was to raise the awareness of children, as well as teachers, families and local communities, to the importance of providing opportunities in schools for improving health, particularly the physical and mental health of children. 2.1.4 Tomorrow's Roads - Safer for Everyone was published by the Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, in March 2000. This paper provided a special focus on reducing the numbers of children killed or injured in road accidents. Included in this paper was a target for the Government to achieve a 50% reduction in the numbers of children killed or seriously injured compared with the average for 1994-98. This paper also identified the need for children to walk and cycle in safety, their need of the freedom to use the roads for their social development and exercise for their general health and 3 fitness. The action plan included in this paper identified four key stages in road safety education: • Babies and very young children - through advising their parents and first teachers on protection in cars and teaching safe behaviour on the road; • Primary age children - through child pedestrian training schemes and later, cycle training, alerting parents to the risks of cycling in particular traffic conditions; • Older children - by providing road safety information as they change schools and go on longer journeys on their own; and • Older teenagers - providing advice as they contemplate more independent mobility. 2.1.5 In 2003, the Departments for Education and Skills and Transport jointly published ‘Travelling to School: an action plan’. This sets out how the government will provide schools with additional capital funds to improve the school environment and encourage children and their parents to make healthier, more environmentally friendly travel choices. The plan draws on the experience of schools and local authorities and aims to ensure that all schools and local authorities take action to increase the proportion of children walking, cycling or taking the bus to school. Actions include: • Consulting pupils/parents and the wider community on travel habits and how to promote more walking and cycling; • Putting in place a travel plan to show how schools will achieve changes: including a description of the travel and transport issues faced by the school, safe routes to school, cycle storage, lockers, local speed restrictions, cycle routes, pedestrian shelters; and • Incorporating sustainable travel into the curriculum. The guide shows how the government will support schools through: 4 • Providing an additional capital grant to schools with a travel plan; • Funding a network of school travel advisers in every local authority to support schools in preparing and implementing travel plans; and • Possible changes to legislation which would let a small number of local authorities try out new arrangements for home to school transport. The guide mentions the need for schools, local authorities, transport providers and central government to work together to combat increasing car use on the school run, reduce congestion and contribute to improving children’s health. 2.1.6 A companion guide – ‘Travelling to School: a good practice guide’ – was also produced for local authority and transport professionals. The guidance included: • 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,