A trial scheme to close a Harrogate street outside a busy junior school during traffic at peak times was launched this morning.
Beechwood Grove is now part of the School Streets pilot project, preventing parents from using it to access Oatlands Junior School at the beginning and end of the school day.
From today – the first day of the new school year at Oatlands Junior School – the measures will see school traffic banned from the road between 8.30am and 9am, and from 3pm to 3.45pm, on weekdays during term time.
The scheme is the first School Streets pilot in North Yorkshire.
Residents, school staff, blue badge holders, official school transport and emergency services are exempt from the closure.
As an alternative, parents are encouraged to bring their children to school by foot, bicycle, or scooter. Those who need to drive are asked to use the ‘park and ride’ scheme, parking at Hornbeam Park railway station, M&S Simply Food on Leeds Road, or St Mark’s Church, and walking the rest of the way.
Hazel Peacock & Dr Vicki Evans, of Outlands Road Safety and Active Travel Campaign, told the Stray Ferret:
“We are delighted the School Street pilot at Beechwood Grove started today to create a safer, healthier space around the Oatlands Junior School for pupils, parents and carers and local residents, every school day.
“This first School Street pilot in North Yorkshire, is the result of a joint community collaboration between campaigners, residents, Oatlands Junior School, local councillors John Mann and Pat Marsh and North Yorkshire Council.”
The move comes amid incidents involving cars and school pupils in Harrogate.
This year, a pupil at the junior school was injured when a car mounted a pavement outside the school gates, while a more serious collision on Yew Tree Lane left two 15-year-old Rossett schoolboys with serious injuries.
Following the incidents, a campaign to introduce 20mph limits and other restrictions on roads around Oatlands, Pannal Ash and Rossett gathered momentum.
Headteachers of all the local primary and secondary schools met several times, along with councillors, highways officers and parents, to discuss road safety.
A petition of more than 1,000 signatures was presented to North Yorkshire Council and the proposal was debated by both the Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee, and the council’s executive.
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Trial scheme will ban school run cars from Harrogate street
A road outside a busy junior school in Harrogate will be closed to traffic at peak times from September.
Beechwood Grove is set to be part of a School Streets pilot project, preventing parents from using it to access Oatlands Junior School at the beginning and end of the school day.
The measures will see school traffic banned from the road between 8.30am and 9am, and from 3pm to 3.45pm, on weekdays during term time.
Residents, school staff, blue badge holders, official school transport and emergency services will be exempt from the closure.
Meanwhile, parents are being encouraged to bring their children to school on foot, or by bicycle or scooter. Those who need to drive are asked to use the ‘park and stride’ scheme, parking at Hornbeam Park railway station, M&S Simply Food on Leeds Road, or St Mark’s Church, and walking the rest of the way.
North Yorkshire Council said it is proceeding with the experimental traffic regulation order for a period of up to 18 months after receiving an “overall positive response” to an informal consultation it ran in May and June.
In a letter to parents, senior traffic management officer Andrew Clare said the proposal would be formally advertised now, before coming into effect on Wednesday, September 6 – the first day of the new term at Oatlands, which has capacity for 360 pupils.
He added:
“We are seeking volunteers to help steward the scheme at school start and finish times.
“Volunteers are crucial to the schemes (sic) success to manage the traffic management, inform motorists of the restrictions, offering information and guidance, for example, highlighting the location of the park and stride locations.”
Earlier this year, a pupil at Oatlands Junior School was injured when a car mounted a pavement outside the school gates.
A more serious collision on Yew Tree Lane in February left two 15-year-old Rossett schoolboys with serious injuries requiring extensive hospital treatment.
As a result, a campaign to introduce 20mph limits and other restrictions on roads around Oatlands, Pannal Ash and Rossett gathered momentum.
A road safety meeting between headteachers, councillors and campaigners
Headteachers of all the local primary and secondary schools met several times, along with councillors, highways officers and parents, to discuss road safety.
A petition of more than 1,000 signatures was presented to North Yorkshire Council and the proposal was debated by both the Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee, and the council’s executive.
Cllr Keane Duncan, who is responsible for highways across the county, has said a review is now being completed to decide what measures are needed to make journeys to school safer.
Hazel Peacock, one of the parents behind the campaign, said news of the School Streets scheme on Beechwood Grove was welcome. She added:
“Together the school, campaigners and other stakeholders including councillors John Mann and Pat Marsh have been working with NYC to create a safer environment at school start and finish times.
“We are delighted the School Street pilot will begin in September at the start of the new school term and hope it will deliver positive benefits such as safer, cleaner environments around the school and can encourage more active travel.”
Read more:
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Highfield pupils earn ‘eco-points’ for walking and cycling to school
Pupils at Highfield Prep School in Harrogate have been competing for ‘eco-points’ by walking, cycling, and scooting to school as part of an initiative to improve the environment.
The school, which caters for children aged 4-11, organised the Move to School initiative this term to encourage children and their families not to travel to school by car.
The class with the most eco-points at the end of the term will win an eco-trophy.
Lizzie Fee, social media manager at Highfield, which is part of Harrogate Ladies College, said the scheme is about improving the children’s awareness of how their actions affect the world around them.
She said:
“This is a great way to encourage the children to become aware of their impact on their environment, and that everyone can make a difference no matter how small. It all helps!”
For families who travel by car from further afield, the school has encouraged parents to shorten their journeys and walk the remainder of the way.
Ms Fee added:
“We are very proud of the children’s commitment and enthusiasm to eco-initiatives and green activities and we will be promoting six Move to School weeks every term.”
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There is a national project gaining momentum called School Streets, which bans vehicles from outside school gates during pick-up and drop-off times.
The project aims to make streets near schools safer places for children, increase opportunities for them to walk or cycle and reduce their exposure to toxic air pollution.
School Streets was pioneered in the London borough of Hackney in 2017 and has since expanded across the country, including Yorkshire primary schools in Halifax, York, Leeds and Sheffield.
North Yorkshire County Council has not said it will introduce School Streets but its Open Harrogate project – which encourages active travel – said on Twitter the possibility was being explored.
Could cars be banned outside primary schools in Harrogate?As cars are banned from roads around primary schools elsewhere in the country, could Harrogate see new schemes introduced to do the same?
The national School Streets project aims to make streets near to schools a safer place for children, increase opportunities for them to walk or cycle, and reduce their exposure to toxic air pollution.
While North Yorkshire County Council has not said it will introduce School Streets, its Open Harrogate project – which aims to encourage active travel – confirmed on Twitter the possibility is being explored.
School Streets was pioneered in Hackney, London in 2017 and has since gone on across the country including at Yorkshire primary schools in Halifax, York, Leeds and Sheffield.
In Hackney, vehicles are able to apply for exemptions but only if they are a blue badge holder or a resident or business inside the School Streets zone.
Since School Streets first came to the London borough, children cycling to participating schools has increased by over 50%, with traffic outside the schools reducing by around two-thirds.
‘Behaviour change’
The idea of School Streets has been welcomed by environmental campaign groups. Caroline Linford from Sustainably Harrogate told the Stray Ferret that the scheme would help enforce “behaviour change” for parents in Harrogate.
She said:
“Improving congestion and pollution around schools is a bit of a chicken and egg issue. One of the reasons parents drop their children close to school is because it’s not safe for them to walk or cycle, but by doing so they’re actually exacerbating the problem.
“School Streets help enforce behaviour change and show parents that the school run can be a relaxed, safe, quiet and pollution free.”
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The walking and cycling charity Sustrans published a survey last week which involved more than 1,000 parents of children under 16. It found seven in ten (71%) parents agreed that local authorities should take steps to make it easier for families to walk and cycle to school.
According to David who runs the Harrogate-based cycling website Hedgehog Cycling, School Streets would make it safer for children to get to school.
He told the Stray Ferret:
“Children should be able to walk or cycle safely to school, but if school streets are full of vehicles parents will rightly worry about their safety. NYCC has been encouraging active travel through Open Harrogate, but it’s not enough just to encourage. Only if the local authority also makes it safe and easy will it happen.
“Small children and big SUVs don’t mix, and it would be great to see a plan to remove traffic danger around all schools in Harrogate.”
The Stray Ferret has recently heard concerns about the volume of traffic near to Killinghall and Western primary schools.
Sarah Bassitt, the headteacher of Killinghall Church of England Primary School, said she worries that traffic on Otley Road could eventually see a child killed.
Tim Broad, headteacher at Western Primary School, said the first week back was “chaotic” at pick-up time, adding:
“This is the first time I can remember feeling deeply concerned that we could have a road traffic accident.”