Pupils show their pedal power with award wins
TWO schools have picked up trophies for their efforts in encouraging families to choose two wheels rather than four.
Ysgol Bryn Castell in Brynmenyn and Porthcawl Primary School enjoyed a “wheelie” good end to the summer term after they were presented with their trophies for being so successful in this year’s Big Pedal Challenge.
The competition, which ran for a fortnight, challenged youngsters across the UK to travel by bike or scooter for the daily school run, with parents leaving their cars at home.
Porthcawl finished as the top primary school in Wales (five-day category) and Ysgol Bryn Castell picked up second place in a UK-wide one-day challenge.
A total of 73% of the daily journeys made by Porthcawl pupils were made on two wheels during their challenge.
Coun Richard Young, Bridgend County Borough Council’s cabinet member for communities, said: “So many of our schools are tremendously positive in promoting active travel to their pupils, realising the excellent benefits for the whole school community that can be gained by pupils either walking, cycling or scooting more rather than spending the school run sat in a car. Children get to school feeling more energised, healthier and more ready to learn.
“As a council, we have worked extremely hard in recent years to improve our active travel infrastructure, as we want to make it a realistic option for people to leave their cars at home for everyday short journeys such as the daily school run, the commute to work, or trips to shops and amenities.
“The success achieved by local schools in the Big Pedal Challenge demonstrates that active travel is achievable for many residents in Bridgend County Borough, but we want to do more.”
After carrying out an initial public consultation in 2015 to find out which routes people were using most for their everyday journeys on foot or two wheels, Bridgend Council is running a 12-week public consultation on new routes and improvements people would like to see.
Maps showing a total of 161 possible new active travel routes have been drawn up, with proposed routes including Newton to Porthcawl town centre, Garth to Maesteg Comprehensive School, and a safe link between Parc Derwen and Brackla as part of a longer route that would also join up Bridgend town centre with the Bridgend Designer Outlet along the dual carriageway.
Another would connect Brynmenyn with Blaengarw Country Park, completing the Garw Valley Community Route, while safe routes could also be created from Broadlands to Bryntirion Comprehensive School, Litchard to Brynteg Comprehensive School, and Pen-y-Fai to Bryntirion Comprehensive School.
Bridgend County Borough Council’s Active Travel consultation closes on September 1. To have your say, visit bridgend. gov.uk/consultation.