main content School travel plans make Bromley a greener place

Car journeys to and from schools who have introduced travel plans have been reduced by 13% according to ‘hands up’ pupil surveys in schools. With help from the Council’s school travel team, 58% of Bromley’s schools have already adopted a school travel plan. School travel plans tackle all of the travel issues associated with a school. Schools who do not have a travel plan can contact the team.

“School travel plans encourage us to think about all aspects of how pupils, parents and teachers travel to school. This includes safety issues and the type of transport used. Walking to school or even walking some of the way can have a dramatic effect on congestion around a school. It can have an effect on health too - research suggests that just half an hour of walking a day can half the risk of heart disease” said David Graham, School Travel Plan Support Officer.

Travel studies show that at 8:50am, approximately 1 in 5 of the cars on urban roads are directly related to school travel, which has an impact on congestion. School travel plans are a set of measures for a school to follow, aimed at reducing the harm that the school run has on the environment. There are several stages that are followed when creating these plans: ·

• Identifying the travel problems and concerns specific to the school, such as ‘bad parking’ and congestion.
• Drawing up an action plan to overcome these problems, such as walking incentive schemes.
• Taking into account the opinions and ideas of parents, pupils and staff via surveys and questionnaires.

Plans already in place in schools across the borough include the successful Walk on Wednesday (WoW) incentive, school and inter-school walking and cycling competitions. Financial assistance is provided for all state schools producing a school travel plan - primary schools receive a grant of £3,750, whilst secondary schools are entitled to £5,000.

Interested schools should contact the Council’s school travel team on 020 8461 7461. Further information is available at  www.bromley.gov.uk/roadsafety

ENDS

For media enquiries, please contact Andrew Rogers, Communications Advisor, on 020 8461 7670 or Caroline Townsend, Road Safety Officer on 020 8313 4498 or email Andrew.rogers@bromley.gov.ukFurther information about road safety is available at www.bromley.gov.uk/roadsafety