The City Council is embarking on an experimental scheme to address problems around school entrances at the start and end of the school day.
“A School Street is a road outside a school with a temporary restriction on motorised traffic at school drop-off and pick-up times. The restriction applies to school traffic and through traffic. The result is a safer, healthier and pleasant environment for everyone.” School Streets Initiative
School Street schemes offer a proactive solution for school communities to tackle air pollution, poor health and road danger reduction. A School Street scheme will encourage a healthier lifestyle and active travel to school for families and lead to a better environment for everyone.
Many schools experience significant road traffic problems at school start and finishing times, and this can result in resident frustration, increased vehicle emissions and road safety problems associated with hazardous driving and dangerous vehicular parking. Historically, residents living close to schools have requested solutions to these problems, and, recently, Local Highway Authorities have been granted the legal mechanisms to install measures that prevent non-residents from travelling on problematic streets close to schools at school opening and closing times.
School Streets use Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) to restrict School based traffic from entering roads at the start and end of the school day with the intention of creating an environment with fewer vehicles, that encourages and enables walking and cycling.
The proposed School Streets programme is a collaborative initiative between Coventry City Council and Transport for West Midlands (TfWM); and is principally funded through the Walking and Cycling Programme. School Streets aim to minimise the negative effects of motorised traffic at school opening and closing times by reducing the vehicles that can access specific roads around the school at these times. The School Streets scheme has numerous road safety benefits and secondary benefits include a reduction in air pollution and an increase in walking and cycling, helping to create a healthier and safer place for children and young people.
Residents are still permitted to access/egress their property during the times of the restriction using a permit system. Access is permitted at all times for emergency services.
The proposed School Streets will be introduced using Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders. These differ slightly from traditional TROs as they provide an opportunity to see how the scheme works for a period of up to 18 months, allowing monitoring and assessment to be undertaken before a final decision is made whether they should be made permanent. The first 6 months of operation are also an objection period, allowing parents, residents, drivers etc to see how the scheme works before making comments or before a decision is made on whether the scheme should be made permanent after 18 months after considering objections.
Coventry City Council is trialing School Streets at five locations.
The first School Street scheme has recently been installed in the Knights Templar Way Area (Templars Primary School). This became operational on 27th February 2023. This was funded separately and not through the Walking and Cycling Programme and was introduced in response to safety concerns raised by local residents and Councillors. An initial 12-month review of the successes of the Knights Templar Way School Street is ongoing.
Four further School Street schemes are now proposed to be funded through the Walking and Cycling Programme. The schools selected for the trial are Stanton Bridge Primary School, Southfields Primary School, Ravensdale Primary School and Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School.
School Streets typically see changes in walking levels of 3-11% after intervention and Park and Stride increases to between 3-13%. Evidence undertaken by Sustrans demonstrates that School Streets mainly show drops in traffic volumes with limited displacement of traffic onto other streets.
The proposals have been focused on areas where there is a strong community appetite for action to address the problems. It is proposed to design the schemes collaboratively with the school and residents.
School Streets were first introduced in Italy in 1989 and were taken up by Scotland in 2015. In England the first schemes were in Camden in 2017.