to ask if you've heard of School Streets, and whether you think it's a good idea?

[Toomuchstuffwillkillme]

I just caught a bit of 'Clean Air for Kids' on R4 about School Streets in Hackney. Had not heard about it. (Must listen to whole programme properly in a bit!)
Seems like the sort of thing we should all be thinking about? I appreciate actually getting car-loving parents on board might be difficult, and there are probably a lot of issues that would need ironing out, but worth a try?
hackney.gov.uk/article/4379/School-streets

Idk, I think in more rural areas it wouldn't work. It might work in cities with decent transport links?

The school/nursery run before going to work is the most stressful part of my day, and if I had to park a 10 minute walk away from the school I wouldn't be able to do the run and get to work. I'm sure I'm not uniquely positioned in this.

So if this was implemented lots of working parents would have to give up work, as I already drop my child as early as possible.

My council have done this at my local primary.

All the school road traffic is instead funnelled down neighbouring narrow cul-de-sacs, causing complete chaos in those roads and making it extremely dangerous for all the children trying to cross the roads, what with cars turning round in small spaces.

People also park up on the main road, causing long traffic queues as traffic tries to get past them.

Anyone can ask the school for a permit, and the school pretty much gives a permit to anyone who asks for one. So the road is very very far from being a pedestrian-only area at school drop-off and pick-up times.

Absolutely farcical.

I live beside a school, what happens if I have visitors or deliveries? Very restrictive for residents because of lazy parents!

Time involved with driving to school has dropped dramatically in one of the trial areas

doidont I'm guessing the school was there when you bought your house?

I think it is an excellent idea. So many parents near me get to school nearly an hour early just so they can park as close as possible. Then sit with their engines chugging until the air is thick with fumes.

We have to drive but park 10 minutes away and enjoy a lovely walk across the park which wakes me and the children up. Yes it is hard to fit it into a tight routine of school runs and work but then we all need to find ways to fit exercise into our life.
Only issue for me is genuine reasons like illness. I had flu earlier this year and every step towards the school was so horribly painful. But I guess I could have asked a friend to bring them to the car if I had needed to.

I think it is an excellent idea. A lot of the parents who drive to our school live within a 10 minute walk of the school. It’s plain laziness in so many cases.

We have one near us and it seems to work well so far. My only issue is that it's not obvious when the road is open and closed so like PP I suspect there will be a lot of accidental violations. A lit sign at each end of the street would help. I'd like to see cycles banned during these hours too as it would be safer for the pupils.

Why not just institute much tougher parking restrictions for x yards around the school?

It would be much cheaper to introduce without the admin load of processing special permits and traffic wardens could make a few £££ for the council where there were infringements.

Not narrow-minded, genuinely interested in other people's views really. Maybe playing devils advocate a bit!
The programme is about air pollution - which as worldsbestprocrastinor says is a really serious problem. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0003d03
Worth a listen if you have a few minutes. Quite apart from the climate change issues involved - we have to get everyone driving less.

So if it doesn't work for you, which I totally appreciate might be the case, rather than dismissing it out of hand maybe think about things you or your DCs school could do?
(I know I should drive less, and I walk/cycle quite a bit, but I'm lazier in awful weather. So if I was forced not to drive regardless of the weather, yes it might bugger up routines some days, but I'd just have to suck it up and find a way round it, and maybe that would be a good thing for the planet and everyone's health.)

Yes @owlinatree and I am not complaining about the parking, does not bother or impact me. I’d be hacked off if I couldn’t have visitors at certain times though! This was not a thing when I bought the house years ago!

Where's Yellowfish when you need her, to point out that School Streets should be those with no dropped kerbs, no driveways and no residents who ever need to park their cars there, who can always use public transport, just to make sure that every mum in a Chelsea tractor can part as close as humanly possible to prevent little princess having to walk more than ten yards to the school playground?

Maybe your visitors can park else where and walk which is what it's meant for. Or better yet they could get public transport or cycle or walk. Anything thst encourages less pollution is a good thing.

My Gran cannot walk any distance.

So can gran visit outside those 2 hours a day?

Maybe it would be better if you could drop off earlier and pick up later instead, so people actually had the option to walk if they work or have other children to deliver to other schools. It would also stop people having to hover around in the cars during drop off.

So those who cannot walk far should be restricted to when they cannot visit people?

Or rather when they can visit people?

There's at least another 12 hours in the day to visit. Reducing pollution around schools has more benefit for more people.

We have it in our school, have done for a few years now. The roads which have been shut off are lovely and quiet. It's nice to wander along with the kids, they can scoot or cycle on ahead. The way ours is laid out it's quite obvious when you're approaching the roads where cars are still going so I don't have any safety concerns from that angle.
I don't think it has stopped anyone driving though, they just park further away. So the school streets are lovely, the rest are a nightmare.
On balance it's a good thing for our area though. I support it.

What I am trying to say is that my life would be restricted because of lazy parents & that’s unfair. Sometimes that is the best time for her to visit but it’s not always organised in advance, it means I could not have spontaneity. I am restricted with deliveries. I fully signed up to the parking when I bought the house near a school but would never have anticipated this. I know if it happened I’d just have to get on with it but it feels unfair. Our local supermarket offers a park/drop off zone 4 mins walk away but no-one or very few use it.

Equality has certainly passed you by.

Wouldnt work where i live, all the schools are on main roads, doctors surgeries, hospitals etc and clumped quite close together you would never get anywhere and probably be miles out

I’m assuming I would be able to drive to/from home though? A pp said it was lovely & quiet but where I live you would still have residents driving in/out - quite a few!

There's at least another 12 hours in the day to visit. Reducing pollution around schools has more benefit for more people.

So a kind of daytime curfew for disabled people in certain areas?

You sound delightful.

We would love our kids to walk to school but the reality it we have to get 3 kids to three different places in the morning and then go to work, every second counts. Yes it's a lovely thought but doesn't consider a lot of other reasons why people need to drive. If we can't do a school pick up because we are really lazy parents who have to work full time, my 80 yr old FIL with COPD collects two of them. He can't walk far so arrives really early just to get a space to park near the school