School Streets plan extended

MORE ROADS AROUND HOUNSLOW SCHOOLS TO BE CLOSED OFF FOR SAFETY OF PUPILS

AS Hounslow schools reopen this September, some changes are being introduced to help children cycle, walk and scoot to school safely and maintain social distancing.

The School Streets programme was first piloted at Isleworth’s Nishkam School West London in 2018, but further trials are coming into force this month, bringing the total in place to 22 schools.

The initiative means roads surrounding the schools will be closed off to traffic during peak drop-off and pick-up times.

Residents living in the area have been asked to register their cars to the council to make sure they are exempt from the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras monitoring and enforcing the new rules.

Any driver found breaching the restrictions will be hit with a £130 fine. This will drop to £65 if paid within 21 days.

In the first trial using ANPR cameras at Cranford Primary School, the council recorded a hike in the number of pupils walking and cycling to school from 63% to 82% from 2017 to 2019.

It also showed numbers of pupils travelling to school by car dropped from 30% to 13% as a result of the restrictions.

The schemes will start on different dates in September, beginning from next week.

The schools taking part in the trials until July 2021 are:

Marlborough Primary/ Smallberry Green/Green School for Girls

■ Nishkam School West London – extended

■ Sparrow Farm Infant & Nursery School ■ Cavendish Primary School ■ Chiswick School ■ Grove Park Primary School ■ St Mary’s Catholic Primary School & The William Hogarth Primary School

■ The Orchard Primary School

■ Hounslow Heath Junior School

■ St Paul’s CofE Primary School

■ Edward Pauling Primary School ■ Fairholme Primary School

■ St Michael & St Martin Catholic Primary School ■ Lampton School ■ Spring Grove Primary School ■ Ivybridge Primary School ■ Green Dragon Primary School ■ Oriel Academy West London ■ Springwell School

Hounslow’s transport boss Hanif

Khan said: ““We are all delighted to see Hounslow’s schools reopening and we would urge all parents to rethink their travel plans to ensure that their children can travel to and from school safely.

“Our schools have set in place all necessary measures to provide a safe learning environment for your children, but you are responsible for overseeing how your children access this.

“We are trialling a large number of School Streets progr grammes across the borough to enable our school communities to walk, cycle and sc scoot safely and to enable th them to socially distance.

“In addition, the many St Streetspace schemes that ha have been put in place over th the past few months are alloca cating more road space for pe pedestrians and cyclists to tra travel safely around the borou ough and socially distance w while doing so.

“This is a great opportunity for everyone to embrace sustainable means of transport at the start of this new school year.

“If the coronavirus has taught us one thing, it’s the importance of our health.

“Walking or cycling to school is a great way to build regular exercise into our daily routines, that will have lasting benefits for our mental and physical health and for the air quality in our borough.”