Two schools in Hastings & St Leonards have become the first to set up chatrooms to talk about different ways of getting to school, following the Council’s scheme to make school routes safer.
Pupils at West St Leonards and Castledown schools have been linking with each other over the internet to discuss issues such as ‘walking buses’. West St Leonards has already set up a walking bus - eleven children walk to school everyday with a number of supervisors, instead of using transport. Pupils will also be encouraged to discuss the merits of walking and cycling to school.
Twenty years ago, 80% of 7 and 8 year olds in Britain were unescorted when they walked or cycled to school. Today the figure is just 9 per cent and most children are taken to school by car.
A major new scheme to make routes to school safer, so that children could walk or cycle is being piloted this year. The Council has set aside £30,000 from its traffic management budget to work with five local schools, local groups and transport experts to explore the best way to make school routes safer for children, parents and road users.
The five schools have already been working with the Council - two have new 20 MPH zones outside their gates and two are shortly to have them. The schools are Elphinstone, St Pauls, Little Ridge, Christchurch and Castledown.
The aim of the project is to promote and encourage walking and cycling to school by providing facilities that will make it safer, thus improving health and fitness levels. It will also encourage pupils and parents to use public transport or bicycles on school runs which will help reduce pollution levels. Often, cars around school entrances before and after school cause a lot of congestion and can be a threat to pupils’ safety. By encouraging different ways of getting to schools, the project will create a better environment.
The project is being run by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), which has been in contact with all the schools to discuss and find out what pupils think is needed to make the project happen. TRL has been delighted at the response from the schools. Lynn Basford of TRL is the project leader. She said:
The views of the children play a fundamental part in this research and using new technology is a great way of educating children while promoting debate.
A further £10,000 has been set aside for setting up walking buses at schools. This has already been successful in West St Leonards school. A group of around eleven children walk to school every day with volunteers.
It is hoped that the Walking Bus will take off at other schools, but first a strong network of volunteers must be found to assist with the scheme. Councillor Paul Silverson, Cabinet Member responsible for Transport, said:
I am really pleased that the Council has decided to fund these initiatives. The Safer Routes to Schools project will build on the success of the 20mph zones which have really made a difference at the schools.
We will be working with the five schools and asking pupils to complete questionnaires and give their views and we will be analysing the responses and taking them into account before we make our recommendations.
There are major benefits to this scheme and I am delighted that all the schools have responded so positively towards the idea. With the extent of research we are carrying out and with the help and expertise of everyone involved, the Safer Routes to School project should be a great success.
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This page last updated: 12/07/2001