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School run exclusion zone
Dominic Hayes, Education Correspondent10.10.07
Parents could be banned from driving within 200 metres of school gates under plans to tackle congestion and global warming.
Camden council is considering excluding cars from areas with a heavy concentration of schools during rush hour.
The plan's supporters believe it would help combat the child obesity crisis by encouraging children to walk or cycle to school and reduce carbon emissions.
But parents' groups are fiercely opposed, saying the proposal would hit families with children at private schools the hardest.
The plan for the exclusion zone, which would not affect emergency vehicles or those performing "essential" services, has been put forward by Camden's Sustainability Task Force, which advises the council on eco-friendly policies, for consideration early next year. Most of its previous recommendations have been accepted.
Alexis Rowell, a Liberal Democrat councillor for Belsize who chairs the task force, denied he was a "class warrior" targeting wealthy families.
He said: "In my ward, we have a lot of private schools for historical reasons. However, because of house prices and the desire to have a garden, many parentsnow live outside the area and often bring their children to school by car.
"Car exclusion zones around schools during school-run hours would be one way to address the problem but safer streets, lower speed limits, escorted groups of children, separate cycle lanes, school buses, better public transport with better access for parents with buggies and help to relocate schools that are no longer situated near their pupils are also ways we can help to make the school run more sustainable and children happier and healthier."
Mr Rowell said he wanted a debate on the issue, adding that most children at Camden's state schools already walk or use public transport to reach school.
The Schools Travel Action Group, which represents parents who do the school run, said it was "nonsense" to suggest only children at private schools were picked up and dropped off by car.
Co-chairwoman Vicky Fobel said: "This raises issues about parent choice - making it impossible for parents to drive means they won't have the choice to send their children to schools outside their immediate area. We don't live in a police state and people should be able to choose the school they want, even if some parents have to drive."
In June, the council decided to reduce the number of its travel permits, which allow parents to park for up to 15 minutes in residents' parking bays near 37 schools, from the 2,430 to just 500 a year from next September. When the scheme started in 2003, 6,944 permits were issued.
A Camden spokeswoman said officials and executive members would be the first to consider any recommendations from the task force once they received them, probably in February.
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Reader views (10)
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Why do Camden propsose such silly unthought through ideas like this.
Firstly I would love to cut down on traffic. If I could send my child walking every morning or on the bus I would but I can't. To rely on public buses is a no goer as you can't get on one in the morning as they are all full.
I have an 8 month old and a 4 year old. Trying to get them both up, dressed, fed and out into school by 8.30 is an art in itself let alone geting myself into work on time and looking half decent. A four year old child cannot be left on their own to go into school and have to be escorted into school. Walking in would be 35min walk all mostly up hill in the morning is no minor feet for a four year old with all the kit and child in tow and with time constraints.
When they are older I will expect them to walk as it is good and I agree that school children above a certain age should walk to school or use public transport in an ideal world. This is true for all.
Camden would like us to use electric cars well I would love to but where would I charge it. They won't let me change my front garden into partial parking.
This year permits went to car shares only. I can see the reduction in traffic and I know I have eliminated the need to go to collect in my car.
Imposing an exclusion zone is shifting the problem further away from the gate and not tackling it effectivly.
Residents, parents and schools need to communicate and work together on this one and not be railroaded by Camden.
- Sc, West Hampstead, London
This is music to the ears of Hampstead residents, the majority of whom are fed up to the back teeth with the school run. Of course parents have the right to choose whatever school they wish for their children but they also have to think about not only how they are going to transport their children to their chosen school but the long term impact on their children's health and welfare of ferrying them everyday in the back of a car. It is not a right to park your car wherever you see fit, inconvenience other people to a massive extent and then not expect them to complain about it. For too long the residents of Hampstead have been paying the social costs in terms of pollution and congestion of the school run and it has to stop.
- Siobhan E Breen, London, UK
This 200m exclusion zone will only serve to bring total chaos to an already overcrowded area and bring total misery to local residents. The effect of the 200m zones in the Fitzjohns Ave area will effectivley close a main artery and divert the the traffic through the narrow side roads, thus increasing pollution in an area that has one of the highest pollution levels in the UK. Cllr Rowell obviously under estimates the determination of the north London parent to drive their offspring to schools. I would add that the reduction in permits has reduced traffic in the area, his other ideas carry credence most of which have been discussed by the School Travel Steering Group.
- Chris Knight, Hampstead Town
