School Green Travel Plan
Why is a School Travel Plan needed?
The road network is steadily becoming more congested. This is particularly evident around schools with the school run and associated parking a major concern in the morning and afternoon as parents or guardians drop off and pick up children.
Those children that do make their own way to school may have to make hazardous crossings of busy roads. When they get near the school they then have to contend with manoeuvring and indiscriminately parked vehicles. Is it any wonder that, as traffic grows worse, parents become more worried about letting their children make their own way to school and are more likely to drive them there. The result is more and more traffic and more and more danger.
As well as traffic issues there are also those concerning health. An estimated 70% of the population are not physically active enough to benefit their health. If children walk or cycle to school - even for part of the way - they gain the benefits of being physically active.
Making the school journey safer can break the vicious circle. The School Travel Plan can help to make the journey safer and healthier by identifying the problems, propose initiatives to address the concerns and, importantly, outline how its implementation will be monitored and reviewed.
Current Trends
The journey to school has changed dramatically in the last 10 years with growth in traffic, a decline in children making their own way to school and increasing concern about children's health.
Nationally, for children under the age of 16
- The proportion of journeys to school by car has nearly doubled from 16% to 29%.
- Children's walking to school has declined from 59% to 49%.
Nationally, for primary schools
- 54% walk to school.
- 37% are taken by car.
- 9% use public transport or school buses.
- Bicycle use is negligible.
Reasons
Parents drive their children to school because they are primarily concerned about danger from traffic. They are worried about their child being involved in an accident if they are walking or cycling, especially if unaccompanied.
The problems are made worse because schools journeys are now longer than they used to be. In some cases children are setting off for school at 7.15am to catch the school bus and in many households both parents work so many children are dropped off as part of the journey to work. As the catchment area of Durham High School is so vast it means that many of its pupils are brought into school by either car or other means of transport.
All this leads to more traffic on busier, more congested, roads - more of the very same traffic that causes many of the concerns in the first place.
Almost 1 in 5 cars on the highway network at 8:50am are taking children to school.
Consequences
Children are missing the daily exercise that walking or cycling to school can offer. They are also missing the opportunity to learn the road safety skills that are a necessary part of becoming independent. They are losing the chance to travel with friends or spend some quality time with their parents.
Parents driving their children to school cannot fully exploit that shared time. In busy traffic the occupants are exposed to more fumes than they would be outside of the vehicle. The culture of being car-dependent may lead to children reaching secondary school age with much reduced road safety awareness and, as a result, be more at risk from accidents. They may also develop more long-term illnesses and ailments compared to less car-dependent children.
Safer Routes to School
Generally, the aims are to reduce the traffic flow into school and enable more children to walk, cycle or take public or provided transport to school safely and to enjoy the benefits available by doing so. We have discussed with the traffic authorities ways of making changes to the highway network by, for example, reducing traffic speeds and volumes or reallocating road space. At the same time benefits are gained by raising awareness of issues such transport and health. The Safer Routes to Schools projects that are to be developed in the School Travel Plan will be the result of joint ventures between the school, the pupils, school staff, parents, local residents and the County Council.
Who benefits?
Primarily, the School Travel Plan is developed to benefit the pupils who attend Durham High School. However, the issues that are addressed may also be of benefit to parents, local residents and users of the highway network generally in the vicinity of the school.
Proposed Initiatives, Objectives and Targets
The aims are to increase accompanied walking and use of public or provided transport and to decrease the number of children travelling by car.
Objective 1: Increase Travel Awareness
Target: To increase awareness among pupils, parents and staff about the environmental, health and social consequences of their travel choice.
Planned Initiatives:
- Make the School Travel Plan available to staff, parents and pupils.
- Identify opportunities through curricula and extra-curricula activities to educate pupils and their parents of the consequences of their travel decisions.
- Include information on sustainable school transport in the school prospectus and newsletters.
- Involve pupils in the process of surveying and the collection and analysis of data for the monitoring of the School Travel Plan targets.
- Introduce a transport page onto school web site.
Objective 2: Encourage Sustainable Travel Modes
Target: To maintain or increase the number of pupils walking to school, to encourage the use of public transport and cycling proficiency.
Planned Initiatives:
- Encourage walking to school from the proposed Park and Ride site located close to the school.
- Provide information on environmental health and social aspects of travel choices.
- Work with the County Council to identify potential improvements to pedestrian links around the school.
- Encourage the use of public transport by providing regular and reliable information on public transport services.
- Liaise with transport operators over the amending of service routes and timings to meet potential demand from staff and pupils.
- Encourage cycling by accelerating cycle training for pupils in Junior House each year.
Objective 3: Reduce Car Trips and School Car Park Congestion
Target: To reduce the number of vehicles dropping off or collecting pupils at the school.
Planned Initiatives:
- Encourage car sharing.
- Examine travel trends and introduce new private transport routes if cost effective.
- Investigate the potential for setting up a car sharing database.
- Examine ways to increase car parking within the parking area.
Objective 4: Improve Road Safety
Target: To reduce vehicle speeds and the potential for pedestrian / vehicle conflict outside and inside the school and to improve driver awareness of the presence of the school.
Planned Initiatives:
- Encourage speed reduction inside the school with extra signage and traffic calming measures.
- Improve traffic flow using information provided by Traffic consultants to introduce changes to car travel within the grounds.
- Manage any necessary parking by seeking alterations to our current car parks.
- Examine the results of staggering the school finishing times for both Junior and Senior Houses and whether it was successful.
The benefits of a School Travel Plan for DHSfG
- Reducing traffic and pollution
- Cutting congestion at the school gates, the car parks and the exit road through the school.
- Increase the independence and road sense of pupils and give a greater sense of personal safety for pupils and parents.
- Improve chances of planning consent for further school development
- Demonstrate the school's commitment to environmental and community concerns e.g. school inspections.
- Improving children's health and fitness and social contact
- Enable the school to develop its own solutions
- A greater awareness of transport issues and the impact of private vehicles on the environment through curriculum based exercises through providing a focus for class-work within the national curriculum.
- To educate pupils of the effects of private vehicles on the environment and their health.
- Attract external funds and pupils (better ethos, safer and more convenient journeys).
Implementation, Monitoring & Reviewing the Plan
The school took over ownership of the travel plan in Spring 2006.
The intention is that the School Travel Plan will be a living document; reviewed and updated annually. The Plan's targets and any changes will be monitored and reported. Whatever indicators are used to evaluate progress will be reported in such a way as can be understood by the school and the local community.
Responsibility for taking forward the Travel Plan, and meeting the objectives and targets contained within it, is the responsibility of Durham High School for Girls. Though this will, of course, be with the support of all partners including the County Council's School Travel Planning Team. The school will also inform and, where necessary, consult with, all parents as a matter of course.
For further information please contact:
Brian Craig, Assistant Bursar on 0191 3843226
Or e-mail: asstbursar@dhsfg.org.uk
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