Dame Sarah Storey joins car-free streets campaign at schools

The School Streets scheme aims to limit the number of cars outside schools

How do you travel to school? Some people walk, while others take the bus, scoot, or cycle.

Driving is also common, and it's something British Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey wants to tackle.

She's recently attended two primary schools in Leigh, Greater Manchester to support their launch of the School Streets project.

School Streets, which already exist in a number of places across the UK including other parts of Manchester, aims to help tackle air pollution, limit road danger and help children adopt a healthier lifestyle by encouraging them to walk more.

Dame Sarah Storey wants more children to walk, bike or scoot to school

Roads which are covered by the scheme are temporarily closed during school drop-off and pick-up times, limiting the number of cars in the area.

Dame Sarah, who is the new Cycling and Walking Commissioner for Greater Manchester, hopes the new School Streets in the region will lead to more parents seeking out alternative ways they can take their children to school.

"I got involved in sustainable transport and supporting the changes that need to be made to enable more people to cycle more and walk more," Dame Storey told Manchester Evening News.

"School Streets is one of the initiatives that really gets to the heart of communities as we can use this to start on an active neighbourhood but we also need to use this to make it safer and healthier for children to get to school every day.

"I always walked to primary school and everyone I knew always walked. I think it is a symptom of what happens to us when we become car dependent and people by default jump in the car instead of thinking 'it is just 10 minutes we can walk it'.

She also feels that having more cars near schools can make it trickier for children to walk there.

Do you walk to school?

"There are all sorts of barriers to this happening like cars parked on the pavement, roads not being safe enough to cross with children," she said.

"By trying to make sure there are no vehicles at the school gates this reduces the chance that poor parking happens. It will mean that the parents will feel more safe themselves and the children will feel more confident and that is what it is all about."

We want to hear from you! Do you have lots of cars near your school? If so, do you think it would benefit from a Schools Street, or perhaps you have one already? Let us know in the comments!