Changes in lifestyle and fears over safety mean that children
now rarely travel independently and parents often make unhealthy
and unsustainable travel choices. As well as improving their
health, allowing children to travel independently in a safe
environment helps them to develop social and life skills and
increases their confidence. It is for these reasons that schools
are increasingly looking for safe, practical and creative
solutions to prepare and encourage more children to walk,
cycle or use public transport to school. A School Travel Plan
is a school's strategy for doing this.
A capital grant is available to schools
with approved school travel plans – this amounts
to around £5000 for a primary school and £10,000
for a secondary school.
A travel plan is a package of measures that seek to reduce
the reliance on the car for getting to school while improving
road safety. By reducing the amount of car traffic associated
with the school, congestion can be reduced and road safety
improved. Developing a plan is straightforward, and provides
the structure to measure effectiveness and draw in partners
from the wider school community and beyond to make improvements.
A set of guidelines are now available, setting out the
simple steps to developing a school travel plan that involves
the
whole school community and facilitates partnership working
to address the challenges of today's journeys to school.
Help with developing a travel plan can be obtained from
your school travel adviser:
School Travel Plan
