Traffic restrictions at five schools made permanent

Oxfordshire now has nine school streets - where vehicle movements are restricted at drop off and pick up times

Five temporary "school streets" in Oxfordshire have been made permanent.

The scheme closes roads to traffic around schools at drop off and pick up times, with ANPR cameras used to enforce the measure.

Four school streets in Oxford and one in Didcot were approved at a meeting of Oxfordshire County Council, when the restrictions in one area was described as "transformative".

But concerns were raised about displaced traffic causing problems, and the extra pressure that could be placed on parents trying to get their children to school.

The school street at Manor Primary School in Didcot was among the five that were made permanent

School streets have been made permanent at:

• St. Mary and St. John CE Primary School, Oxford

• New Hinksey Primary School, Oxford

• Tyndale Community Primary School, Oxford

• Sandhills Community Primary School, Oxford

• The Manor Primary School, Didcot

Labour councillor Brad Baines described the scheme at New Hinksey - in his division - as "transformative".

He said: "Whilst the number being driven to school was not large, due to the narrow roads around the school, their effect was previously quite profound.

"Dangerous manoeuvres in these tight spaces put children at serious risk."

But he warned that displacement parking, where parents parked in roads around the restrictions, "remains an issue".

County council officers said they were reviewing each school street layout to determine the "most suitable approach" regarding traffic and parking displacement for each school.

Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders were used to test the impact of the school streets before they were made permanent.

'Reasonable trade-off'

Exemptions to the restrictions were put in place for residents, delivery drivers, local businesses, blue badge holders, emergency vehicles and parents and carers of SEND pupils.

In consultations more than two thirds of respondents said they supported each scheme.

But some parents raised the issue of the extra pressure the restrictions put on families.

One from Sandhills Community Primary School said they objected because they lived further away, and the suggestion to use Thornhill Park and Ride for drop off was not "helpful" because it added an additional 10 minutes walk to school each day.

In response, the cabinet member for highways, Andrew Gant, said: "Is it a real hardship to spend 10 minutes walking to school with your child?

"All parents of school age children have to make those kinds of plans during their day and plan their day accordingly.

"That seems to me to be a very reasonable trade-off for a safer school gate, frankly."

The meeting was told that officers were now looking at a third phase of school streets in Didcot, Carterton and Banbury.