BLOG | “Like many simple ideas, School Streets tick a lot of other boxes”

Liverpool City Council has committed to supporting schools to set up 50 School Streets over the coming years. Here, Cabinet Member for Transport and Connectivity Cllr Dan Barrington explains what School Streets are and how they can make a huge difference.

For a number of years, we’ve been committed to bringing School Streets to Liverpool. Earlier this month we announced that camera enforcement will be coming to six more locations and we have ambitions for many more.

But what is a School Street? Simply, they are when we use measures on a road or roads near a school which will either reduce or calm motorised traffic. However, like many simple ideas, School Streets tick a lot of other boxes – they keep children and parents safe, make life easier for residents and local businesses, improve air quality around the school and also encourage active travel.

As we know, every road user should follow or be aware of, if they are pedestrians, the Highway Code. But this is often far from reality and at busy times of the day particularly around schools this disregard for the rules of the road runs a real risk of a tragedy.

So it was great to hear earlier this week that the government has issued new national guidelines to help schools and councils deliver more School Streets. These were launched by National Active Travel Commissioner Chris Boardman at COP29 in Baku which underlines that the government sees them as a useful instrument in its environmental tool box.

One of the earliest adopters for a School Street in Liverpool was Greenbank Primary. Bordered by Arlington Avenue and Mossley Avenue on opposite sides, as well as Greenbank Road leading to Smithdown Road on another side, the school endured issues for many years with careless and potentially fatal behaviour from drivers.

Despite teachers’ best efforts to encourage better behaviour little changed and the school approached the council about a School Street which our Highways Team was more than happy to support.

Now, Arlington Avenue is free of through traffic for two hours a day, an hour at drop-off and pick-up times, and it’s made a huge difference: for the children and their parents, for teachers and for residents who live in the terrace of houses which face the school on the road.

But don’t just take my word for it – take a look at this short video where you can see the School Street in action and hear from Ian Wileman, ICT and educational visits co-ordinator, whose passion to keep his pupils safe brought the School Street to Greenbank.

Any school that is interested in a School Street can contact the council on schoolstreets@liverpool.gov.uk