Borough’s schools urged to engage with healthy travel plans

by Lisa Reeves

Friday 13^th July 2018

Fri 13^th Jul 2018

Cheshire East Council is introducing a campaign to promote healthier ways of travelling to school.

The council wants to encourage more children to walk or cycle to school rather than travel by car.

Known as Smots (sustainable modes of transport to school), the strategy also considers safer parking for communities around schools, other modes of transport – such as buses and trains – and a policy to encourage schools to have their own travel plans.

The strategy seeks to make other forms of travel more appealing and reduce the automatic choice of the family car to drive children to school.

The council acknowledges that where families live in remote rural areas, or where special circumstances apply, car travel may be the only option but it does want to encourage parents to think more carefully about choosing healthier, active forms of travel for their children.

Walking routes and cycle ways could be improved and increased in number and schools will be encouraged to continue road safety training and 'Bikeability' schemes to teach young people safe riding.

The travel plans will help schools to identify and flag up the issues and obstacles that deter or prevent pupils using more sustainable forms of travel. The council can look at ways to address the problems.

Solutions could take a number of forms:

Improvements to walking and cycling routes
New access points to school sites giving more convenient and safer access for pedestrians and cyclists
Improved or new safe crossing points on routes to schools
Small-scale traffic management schemes such as lining, signing and traffic calming
Improvements to parking

The council has set aside £150,000 to fund schemes that would help to deliver solutions.

The Smots strategy sets out the framework for how the council, in collaboration with key delivery partners, will support schools to enable and encourage sustainable travel to and from schools.

Councillor Jos Saunders, cabinet member for children and families, said: "Recent Public Health England figures showed that in Cheshire East we have one of the lowest rates of childhood obesity and we want to maintain that and continue to improve upon it.

"But this is not just about obesity in the young. It is about improving quality of life for everyone, by reducing car dependency and promoting healthy lifestyles."

Councillor Don Stockton, cabinet member for environment, said: "From a highways perspective, it is about improving road safety around schools, relieving congestion and reducing the number of parked cars outside or near schools.

"We are working with schools and other delivery partners to introduce measures that can provide opportunities for sustainable and community-friendly travel to our schools."

Photo: Cllr Jos Saunders, cabinet member for children and families

Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Jon Williams

Friday 13^th July 2018 at 11:51 am

They will need more than £150,000 to make it safe for children to bike to school in this area

Tony Haluradivth

Saturday 14^th July 2018 at 12:22 pm

Don Stockton the man who cannot add up. Firstly Mr Stockton, my grandchildren are at the High School and they walk home most days when it is dry. They get a lift in mostly in the winter when clocks are back by my daughter who is on her way to work as a carer and cannot do her job without a car. Many parents at the school ARE ON THEIR WAY TO WORK they are not idle layabouts who pop their kids in the car for a lark. When is the council going to inhabit the real world . My other grandson did start the school year cycling but stopped 2 months into it as the cycle lane on Prestbury road was increasingly covered in debris. It took several calls to the highways department to get them to actually sweep it, remove the broken glass which had lain there for yonks and the brambles which had spread onto the lane. One pathetic excuse I got when I spoke to them was that plants are left there to "increase biodiversity" . They are fond of "sound bites" and slogans but when it comes to action and maintaining existing cycle lanes they cannot "walk the walk" . This is just another costly box ticking exercise and PR for Stockton who wishes to hold his seat in next yeat's election. I know staff at the school want to promote cycling and that the council put pressure on them to do so.
To the dear staff the High School can I just say that the council forget to tell you in those diktats that they do not actually maintain the cycle lanes and they do not give a fig for child safety and this is the reason the youngest in our families do not cycle to school any more.

Chris Jones

Tuesday 17^th July 2018 at 12:16 am

Is this what we pay Cheshire East for, to come up with utter s&@£e like this. Give me strength .

Harry Martin

Tuesday 17^th July 2018 at 6:49 pm

I agree with the comments above . I wonder if any making the proposals would be happy to cycle round in the rush hour ...let them try and it would be an eye opener . Apart from debris / potholes etc there are loads of parked cars to negotiate and a lot of the roads are too narrow to safely cycle alongside traffic .