Why Healthy School Streets are being implemented

School Streets are being introduced around the country. Where pilot schemes have been introduced, residents and parents alike have benefited from the traffic reduction.

Find out more about School Streets across the UK

Healthier families

So far, the pilot schemes have resulted in:

15% to 25% reduction in car use

23% to 65% increase in active travel

1 in 5 children starting primary school in Croydon is overweight or obese. By secondary school this increases to 1 in 3 children.

Busy streets around schools are preventing families walking, cycling or taking other forms of active travel on the way to school. Making these roads quieter to allow for active travel can make a massive difference to the amount of exercise children and families get each day. 

Stopping the spread of coronavirus

During lockdown, between 24% and 47% of people nationwide switched from public transport to active travel

We need to enable this trend to continue as part of our coronavirus recovery

Since the pilot schemes were introduced, more families have started walking or cycling instead of taking public transport. This is a major step in helping to stop the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).

All local authorities have been required by central government to make streets safer for walking and cycling, in order to keep public transport free for essential workers. School Streets form part of our response to this crucial task.

Quieter neighbourhoods

School run-related traffic accounts for a quarter of cars on the road and adds 254,000 vehicles a day in London alone

Streets with schools entrances face large spikes in traffic during the morning and afternoon school runs.

For residents of these streets, the start and end of the school day are noisy, polluted and dangerous times. Residents may struggle to park or drive to work due to the large numbers of families driving to school.

School Streets help to relieve the pressure on these busy roads. The pilot schemes provided strong evidence that the traffic displacement does not cause road safety issues of any significance on the roads around School Streets.