A Newcastle dad has called for action to finally put an end to a “crush of cars” outside his son’s school.
Newcastle City Council announced more than a year ago that it would prevent parents from driving to pick up or drop off their kids outside the gates of 11 schools, in the hope of improving safety for children, cutting harmful air pollution, and encouraging more people to walk or cycle. The ‘School Streets’ scheme would have seen vehicles blocked from roads outside the schools between the hours of 8am and 9.30am and between 2.30pm and 4pm, with the project initially due to be introduced in summer 2021.
But, since the local authority’s announcement of the programme in March last year, progress has been minimal – with only a handful of one-day trials having been held. Kieran McSherry, whose son Leo attends Hotspur Primary School in Heaton, has been left increasingly frustrated by the delays and said it “does not make sense that the council talks about changing people’s habits, but then does nothing to do that”.
