Active school travel scheme nominated for award

The initiative involves temporary road closures being set up outside of schools, so that they become pedestrian-only zones during opening and closing times

A successful scheme encouraging active travel to schools has been nominated for an award.

Peterborough City Council’s school streets initiative has been shortlisted for a community involvement accolade in this year’s Local Government Chronicle (LGC) awards.

The scheme involves a temporary road closure being set up outside the entrance of a school, making it a pedestrian-only zone during the school’s opening and closing times. This encourages active travel, reduces congestion and improves safety.

The scheme has been running for the past three years, and currently 14 schools and nurseries take part.

The scheme has been running for the past three years across Peterborough and currently has 14 schools and nurseries taking part

The Peterborough school streets initiative was originally introduced as a response to the Covid pandemic, to create additional space for social distancing on the journeys to and from school. It was supported by the Department for Transport's emergency active travel fund.

The initiative has attracted interest from campaign groups such as Mums for Lungs - which raises awareness of the health effects of air pollution - and other local authorities. As schools continued to express an interest, the council has worked to evolve the project to ensure its ongoing success.

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Gavin Elsey, Peterborough City Council's cabinet member for infrastructure, environment and climate change, said he was “delighted” with the nomination.

“We are fully committed to promoting active travel throughout the city and this campaign has helped to support our priority of creating healthy and safe environments where people want to live, work, visit and play, enabled by effective community engagement and strong partnerships,” the councillor added.

Award winners will be announced at a ceremony at Grosvenor House in London in June.