South Lanarkshire Council has shared an update on its measures taken to manage traffic around schools.
At the Road Safety Forum on Tuesday, November 1, councillors were updated on the range of interventions the local authority has carried out to ease traffic.
Within South Lanarkshire, there are 17 secondary schools, 124 primary schools, two private schools and seven additional support needs schools. This means there are approximately 46,000 pupils who attend school daily which equates to 8,740,000 return pupil journeys to and from school every academic year.
Issues relating to congestion, unsafe driving and parking practices can result in risks and conflicts happening between road users. Therefore the council has taken an approach to parking and road safety surrounding schools.
A range of approaches have been taken including piloting Car Free School Zones, encouraging active and sustainable travel through School Travel Plans and introducing Road Safety Projects and Initiatives.
There are currently two pilot Car Free Zones in South Lanarkshire. The schools who have chosen to participate in the scheme are Burnside Primary School in Rutherglen and St Joseph’s Primary School in Blantyre.
The scheme started operation after the Easter holidays in April 2022, and there are warning signs at the entrance to the zones and on approaches, giving drivers a chance to find other routes around the closed streets.
The council has also encouraged active and sustainable travel through School Travel Plans which focus on how to encourage more active travel to and from school, to make things safer.
The process involves the full school getting pupils and parents thinking about their journeys and adopting plans such as walking, cycling and park and stride. This leads to less car reliance and presence outside schools.
A total of 75 schools have completed a travel plan with a further 61 currently working towards completing them. The remaining schools are being encouraged to take part.
The council have also launched road safety projects and initiatives to provide education and training to children and young people through the Curriculum for Excellence education programmes.
Councillor Susan Kerr (Avondale and Stonehouse), praised some of the work being done but questioned the success of the Car Free School Zones.
She said: “I totally wholeheartedly agree, there is no solution here and it is difficult. There are some steps that look good like the school travel plans which look excellent.
“But I do wonder about the two pilot car free zones, my gut instinct is doesn’t that just move the problem to the next street? So that’s my gut instinct and I know we are waiting on an evaluation and it will come out in time, but I feel that is happening.”
Councillor Margaret Cowie (Rutherglen South) praised the Car Free Zones, stating that she has not seen any issues as of yet.
She said: “Burnside Primary is in my ward and we’ve not seen as much parking in other streets. Although it would be interesting with the parent councils to get an update.”
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