Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey wants to change the lazy culture of driving children to school and reduce the risk to life posed by cars and congestion. The multiple time gold medalist was in attendance at Leigh Central and Sacred Heart primary schools in Leigh as they launched the School Streets scheme.
This event is something the new Cycling and Walking Commissioner for Greater Manchester believes that can help change the culture and boost activity to benefit overall health. When she was in school, Mrs Storey would regularly walk in as there were not as many cars being used.
Now there is more infrastructure for motor vehicles to get closer access to schools in built up areas around Greater Manchester - and these two adjoined schools are especially at risk.
School Streets project consists of a traffic regulation order and related signage, where cars (aside from in certain exemptions) will no longer be able to access the school at drop-off and pickup times, and families are encouraged to cycle, walk or scoot instead. So far Wigan has launched three School Streets with funding for a further five.
“I got involved in sustainable transport and supporting the changes that need to be made to enable more people to cycle more and walk more,” Dame Storey said. “School Streets is one of the initiatives that really gets to the heart of communities as we can use this to start on an active neighbourhood but we also need to use this to make it safer and healthier for children to get to school every day.
“I always walked to primary school and everyone I knew always walked. I think it is a symptom of what happens to us when we become car dependent and people by default jump in the car instead of thinking ‘it is just 10 minutes we can walk it’.
“There are all sorts of barriers to this happening like cars parked on the pavement, roads not being safe enough to cross with children.
“By trying to make sure there are no vehicles at the school gates this reduces the chance that poor parking happens. It will mean that the parents will feel more safe themselves and the children will feel more confident and that is what it is all about.
“Every minute spent in a motor vehicle is another minute they are sitting not doing what they are supposed to do.
“It is that lazy habit that has crept in over the last 30 or 40 years which is something we need to try to nudge the other way. You induce demand by making it easier to get to these places.”
With Sacred Heart School and Leigh Central being at the end of a T-junction between Glebe Street and Windermere Road, there is a history of traffic build up. Not only is this a danger for children coming into school from a road safety perspective, there is also the element of air pollution to consider.
Dawn Hurst, headteacher at Leigh Central Primary School, said: “It has been really positive. We launched this because there is really high levels of traffic here with two primary schools on this small road.
“Over a number of years we have had difficulty with children’s safety and the air pollution so this was a great opportunity when it was offered to us by the council for both schools to be involved with it. What we are really hoping for is that parents park a little way away from school, we know not everyone can, and walk that extra five or 10 minutes.
“It is going to improve our health and improve the traffic. This is going to be the key to this working.
“We are really hoping this will have a long-term benefit for the children. We are really encouraging people to come in on the scooters and on their bikes or to walk. If we start these habits now it should carry our children through to adulthood.
“We are really excited to have Sarah come down as she is such an inspirational character that the children can look up to. Really honoured to have that in Leigh.”
Transport for Greater Manchester has secured half a million pounds of funding for the School Streets scheme across GM, as part of a £15.9 million grant from the national government’s Active Travel Fund. Whilst schemes are funded by TfGM, they are delivered by local authorities in partnership with individual schools.
Having previously launched three School Streets in Wigan Borough, the district has been successful in securing £50,000 in funding from TfGM to deliver five more School Streets. Across GM, around 30 per cent of trips under 1km are made in a car, with 84 per cent of school runs being under 1-mile. That’s the equivalent of a four-minute bike ride or a 15-minute walk.
Leigh Central and Sacred Heart are two of the latest to join this scheme, aptly on Walk to School Week 2022.
