School travel planning

Summary

Increasing awareness of sustainable mobility issues among staff, parents and children can lead to changes in home to school travel behaviour.

Implementing sustainable mobility

Schools in Preston were encouraged to examine the manner in which staff, pupils and parents travelled between home and school. All local authority schools in the area were offered assistance in developing a school travel plan and were provided with ongoing advice and support.

The measure aimed to promote walking, cycling and public transportation as attractive alternatives to the private car. Schools successfully developing a school travel plan were eligible to receive grants towards related projects, for example the installation of cycle parking facilities.

Progress

All local authority schools in Preston received information about school travel plans. Awareness was also raised through the 2Move Festival and Healthy Schools Programme with Preston Primary Care Trust. A pilot “Walk to School” initiative was introduced at a number of schools. The development of a schools travel plan workshop model, launched in September/October 2006 and attended by 23 local primary schools, proved to be a valuable innovative measure.

Head teachers were invited to attend seminars and workshops to increase awareness of school travel plans and to boost take-up by schools.

Outcomes

As a result of the measure, 62 percent of schools in Preston developed and approved a school travel plan. The implementation of school travel plans had a positive impact in Preston: there was a reduction in car traffic and the number of pupils walking to Preston primary schools increased.

This fact sheet has been updated by a third party on the basis of available information (not by the city itself), therefore we do not guarantee any data with respect to their content, completeness or up-to-dateness.