School Streets: guidance for local authorities - 3. Developing School Streets

Local authorities should develop a clear process for identifying potential sites for the introduction of a School Street and for assessing the feasibility of proposals before undertaking detailed design work.

The proposal to introduce a School Street may arise from several sources. An authority may wish to invite applications from schools, community groups or the wider public. Authorities may also identify potential sites based on their own evidence of issues with congestion, road safety and air quality around schools. It is important to gain support from the school’s headteacher and governors at an early stage.

Local authorities can apply for funding to support the development and implementation of School Streets schemes through the Safe Routes in Communities grant.

An initial feasibility assessment of proposed sites should be carried out before undertaking scheme development work to ensure that effort is not wasted on proposals that are unlikely to succeed.

A simple assessment matrix can be used to score potential School Streets against key selection criteria. Where multiple proposals are under consideration, the results of these assessments can be used to help prioritise available resources and phase implementation of School Streets.

Please email activetravel@gov.wales for examples of criteria utilised by Welsh local authorities. 

See Other ways to support school travel for additional interventions which can be implemented to support a School Street, or where a School Street is not feasible. 

Individual authorities are best placed to determine the appropriate selection criteria for their area and any associated scoring and weighting mechanisms. However, some suggestions are given below that can be adapted to reflect local priorities. Where authorities invite applications for School Streets, it is helpful to make the criteria publicly available and to ask those proposing schemes to provide supporting information to help with the assessment.

In a study undertaken on behalf of Carmarthenshire County Council in 2022, an initial assessment ruled out only 39 of 95 primary schools as they were situated on trunk or main roads, leaving 56 schools as potentially suitable and to be assessed further.

Traffic and the highway environment

1. Is the school on a major road or a frequently used bus route?
2. Does the road have facilities that require constant essential motor vehicle access (such as a hospital)?
3. Are there alternative routes for through traffic? (These alternative routes may be maintained by another highway authority who should be consulted.)
4. Are there businesses that require a high volume and frequency of vehicles accessing their premises, during the School Streets operational hours?

A School Street is unlikely to be feasible where the answer is ‘yes’ to the first or second question or ‘no’ to the third. Consideration would need to be given to business needs where the answer is ‘yes’ to the fourth question. 

There may be exceptions to this rule of thumb where an authority implements a much broader area-wide restriction of traffic and/or is prepared to install camera-enforced bus gates to enable buses to operate on their normal route with minimal disruption.

Evidence of traffic-related problems near the school

What evidence exists to show that the site experiences problems caused by motorised traffic, how significant are these problems and could they be addressed (at least in part) by the introduction of traffic restrictions?

Factors that an authority may wish to consider include:

• air quality: are there high levels of pollution outside the school? Is the school in an Air Quality Management Area?
• road safety: Is there any evidence to indicate a widespread perception that traffic poses a particular danger and acts as a deterrent to walking, wheeling and cycling to school? Does collision and casualty data indicate a problem that a School Street could help to address?
• antisocial or nuisance parking by parents/guardians: is this a particular problem at the site and does it have a significant impact on residents and other road users? What other attempts have been made to address this?

Level of community support

• Is the school headteacher supportive and are staff and parents able to help with development and implementation?
• Are residents and businesses willing (overall) to collaborate in the development of a workable scheme?

When assessing community support, authorities should consider public opinion and consult on active travel schemes as set out in chapters 5 and 8 of the Active Travel Guidance and our advice on stakeholder engagement.

Most people do not feel strongly about walking, wheeling and cycling schemes. Those who do express a preference tend to support rather than oppose schemes, on average by a ratio of more than 2:1.

In general, only a small minority express strong opposition for a scheme and this tends to diminish following implementation. School Street schemes are generally more supported than other active travel schemes due to the benefit to children. 

Authorities should not expect universal support for schemes and should not allow any one group to exercise a veto over them. Public consultation processes should be designed to gather a representative picture of views, including from the less vocal.

Active travel: commitment and potential

A School Street is more likely to deliver desired outcomes where a school demonstrates a clear commitment to encouraging active travel and where there is potential for existing car/van trips to shift to active modes.

When assessing possible sites for a School Street, authorities may therefore wish to consider:

• whether the school has an up-to-date School Travel Plan
• what activities the school has undertaken to encourage and enable active travel to school and what impact these have had
• whether there has been and continues to be support from the school to deliver child pedestrian and cycle training for pupils
• available data on the current mode share for travel to school by car/van, public transport and active modes and on the proportion of pupils living close enough to the school to walk, wheel or cycle
• whether the school has the capacity and is willing to administer its own staff and visitor permits

School Streets schemes can be relatively low cost, high impact interventions. However, the cost can vary significantly between schemes depending on factors such as the size and layout of the School Street, whether cameras will be used to enforce the traffic restrictions and whether complementary measures to support active travel are delivered alongside the restrictions.

The budget for any School Streets scheme will need to include provision for the following items and activities:

• engineering/design: design and installation
• legal: processing and advertising Traffic Regulation Order (TRO)
• consultation and publicity materials: design, print and delivery
• monitoring and evaluation: before and after implementation
• staff costs: value of staff time spent on scheme development and implementation
• enforcement: provision and operation of CCTV cameras (if applicable)

Hackney’s School Streets toolkit provides an example of these costs for an individual School Street with 2 entrances and restrictions enforced by cameras. 

In addition to these generic School Street costs, the site-specific funding requirements of a particular scheme will become clearer during scheme design. For example, a particular School Street might also require investment in measures to improve accessibility such as wider footways, higher quality surfaces and the provision of dropped kerbs.

Engaging a diverse range of stakeholders is key to developing an effective and well-supported School Streets scheme. Efforts should be made to actively engage stakeholders throughout the development and implementation phases of a scheme. 

The local authority officer leading on a School Street scheme (or programme) will play a key role in this, acting as the bridge between internal local authority stakeholders and external stakeholders from a school and its wider local community. 

Internal stakeholders

Within the local authority and its broader delivery chain, the officer leading on a School Street will need to establish effective working relationships with the following stakeholders (among others) listed with their roles: 

Elected members

Provide a mandate for the programme, offer support and challenge

School Travel and Road Safety Officers

School engagement, promotion

Highways Officers

Emergency and alternative route information

Education Officers

Strategic/policy support and integration

Traffic Engineers

Design and installation

Traffic Orders team

Implement TRO

Public Health team

Strategic/policy support and integration

Environmental Health team

Air quality management

Sustainability/Climate Change team

Strategic/policy support and integration

Urban design/landscape architect

Design and installation support

Tree officers

Design and installation support

Access and equalities officer

Advise on compliance with the authority’s Public Sector Equality Duty 

School transport providers

Co-design workable arrangements for home to school transport

Communication officers

Consultation and engagement support

Parking team including Civil Enforcement Officers

Enforcement and Penalty Charge Notices

Gritting, refuse and cleansing teams

Agree workable arrangements

Play development teams

Support for Play Street initiatives

External stakeholders

It is vitally important to develop a close and ongoing relationship with schools that are selected for the delivery of a School Street and with their wider local communities including residents and businesses, local interest groups and the police.

High quality external engagement can lead to more effective and well-supported School Streets schemes by:

• ensuring the scheme’s objectives and its practical implications are widely understood by those most impacted by it
• identifying potential problems with a scheme at an early stage and facilitating the co-development of solutions before implementation
• providing a clear understanding of school travel patterns and any specific barriers or challenges to increasing active travel as well as flagging up previous or ongoing initiatives that the School Street can build upon

To support external engagement, it may be helpful to establish a working group of school and local community stakeholders. Such a group should include the school headteacher, designated governor/trustee, school travel plan lead and representatives of the following stakeholder groups:

• school staff
• pupils
• parents/carers
• residents
• local businesses (if applicable)
• local Police Community Support Officers (PCSO)

Wider engagement with local residents can be undertaken through surveys and events. This will enable a broad range of feedback to be obtained on the scheme before and during delivery.

Online platforms are a popular and efficient way to gather feedback, which can be complemented by alternative formats such as paper forms, email and telephone. 

Events provide an opportunity for constructive dialogue and co-design with local stakeholders and could include site visits and workshops.

Face to face conversations with affected businesses may help to alleviate any concerns and gain understanding and support. Targeted and tailored communication approaches may be required to ensure that engagement is accessible to all.

Read more about communicating with local stakeholders.

In addition to ongoing engagement, an authority will also need to conduct formal consultation on the scheme – see the section on Traffic Regulation Orders.

Once a school has been selected for the introduction of a School Street, an authority can develop a preliminary design of the scheme layout. 

Schemes can cover a whole street, part of a street or even several streets immediately outside a school. There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution: the unique circumstances of each site need to be carefully considered. The aim should be to develop a scheme layout that maximises the effectiveness of a School Street in delivering its objectives whilst minimising undesirable impacts.

Key factors to consider when determining the appropriate layout for a School Street include:

• how many school entrances are in use and where they are located
• the impact of disrupting access to residential properties, businesses and other trip generators such as doctors’ surgeries
• how many residents will be exempted from the prohibition on entering the School Street during operational hours
• whether alternative routes are available for through traffic diverting around the School Street and the impact of such traffic displacement
• the displacement of school-related traffic and parking to streets on the periphery of the School Street

A small School Street zone, such as a short section of street immediately outside a school entrance, might appear to have fewer negative impacts but may also fail to increase active travel because traffic volumes remain high on most of the journey to and from school. This does not mean that more extensive School Street zones are always better.

In a high-density area, if a School Street zone is too broad the number of vehicles qualifying for an exemption from restrictions may mean that traffic levels do not reduce sufficiently to give parents confidence in children walking, wheeling and cycling to school.

In some cases, it may be helpful to organise an event involving a road closure to test an emerging approach, seeking feedback from the school and local community and collecting evidence to inform decisions on the preferred layout.

As it develops the scheme layout, an authority should consider the potential for introducing measures that mitigate the negative impacts of traffic restrictions. For example, some authorities have addressed the issue of parking displacement by establishing ‘park and stride’ sites within a walkable distance of the school gate.

While traffic restrictions are the principal means by which School Streets deliver increased active travel and other objectives, all timed schemes will need to provide limited exemptions for residents’ vehicles and other essential traffic.

Local authorities will need to determine what exemptions should apply to a particular School Street scheme, balancing the need for essential motor vehicle access against the reduction in a scheme’s effectiveness if levels of traffic remain high. 

School Streets schemes typically provide exemptions for: 

• vehicles registered to an address within the area covered by the School Street (both residents and businesses)
• emergency services vehicles and utility providers on emergency callouts
• Blue Badge holders who have reason to access the school site
• carers for vulnerable residents that require access and can provide suitable evidence
• school transport
• parents/carers of pupils with Additional Learning Needs (ALN) that require a car to access school
• vehicles already parked within the School Street that need to exit

Authorities may also consider providing exemptions for other groups such as delivery drivers, tradespeople and local authority waste collection vehicles (where rescheduling or rerouting has not been possible). However, exemptions are not normally provided for school staff and parents/carers (unless they are already covered by another exemption such as being a Blue Badge holder).

It is essential to give people sufficient notice of the introduction of a School Street to enable them to apply for an exemption and for applications to be processed by the authority. The application process itself will need to be clear and accessible.

Cardiff City Council provides an example of how the exemption process could be managed.

Vehicles exempted from traffic restrictions will either need to display a physical permit or be granted a virtual permit (with details recorded on an authorised vehicle list). The proposed enforcement method for a School Street will influence what type of permit is used, with CCTV enforcement providing an opportunity to dispense with physical permits. 

Read more about enforcement.

Throughout the development and implementation of School Streets, local authorities must comply with their obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) (Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). 

The PSED requires public bodies to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between different people when carrying out their activities. In Wales, certain public bodies are subject to specific duties found in the Equality Act 2010 (Statutory Duties) (Wales) Regulations 2011 also known as the Welsh specific equality duties. Further information: Public Sector Equality Duty.

Authorities should consider how the proposed School Streets scheme(s) will impact individuals with the 9 protected characteristics of:

• age
• disability
• gender reassignment
• marriage and civil partnership
• pregnancy and maternity
• race
• religion or belief
• sex
• sexual orientation

Authorities must produce an Equality Impact Assessment to provide evidence that they have thoroughly considered potential impacts and taken action to avoid or mitigate negative impacts on people with protected characteristics (for example, by providing exemptions to Blue Badge holders and carers).