Page last updated at 15:21 GMT, Friday, July 2 2010
School Travel Plans in Eastleigh
Safe Routes to School
Perhaps understandably parents do not feel that it is safe to allow
their children to make their own way to school, either on foot or
by bike, when the perception is that children are no longer safe
from stranger intrusion or that roads have been designed for the
car and are not safe to use by cyclists or pedestrians. As a
result the "school run" by car has become an accepted part of
modern day life. It does, however, contribute significantly
to peak hour traffic congestion, often resulting in an unsafe
environment on roads near to schools, particularly by the school
gates. It also deprives children of the opportunity of enjoying
healthy exercise by walking or cycling to school.
There is an alternative. By working in partnership, Eastleigh
Borough Council and local schools are looking at ways of developing
and implementing "Safe Routes to School" so that children can walk
or cycle along dedicated footways and cycle ways between major
catchment areas and their local school. Schools, again in
partnership with us, have developed School Travel Plans
which have provided a framework by which parents, teachers and
pupils have agreed a strategy to reduce car dependency for the
"school run". The Boroughs schools have worked closely
with Borough officers and to develop School Travel Plans
with all of the Borough's state schools having
completed plans.
Successful School Travel Plans and their associated Safe
Routes to Schools:
Benefit parents by reducing their commitment to delivering their
children to and from school
Benefit children by giving them a degree of independence and an
opportunity to take gentle exercise
benefit local communities by reducing traffic and parking
congestion outside schools.
If you want to know more about School Travel Plans and Safe
Routes to School further information can be obtained by e-mailing
Sarah Wallbridge in
the Transport Policy Team or you can telephone her on 023 8068
8280.
Primary Schools
Infant and Junior Schools
Secondary Schools and Colleges