School Run and the reliance on the car

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   It doesn't matter what time of year it is the school run is stressful and blocks roads and footpaths, any professional driver will tell you the roads are so much clearer during school holidays than they are during term time.

Whats the problem and whats the solution ?
  If only it were that simple,

Lets start with the problem.
Parents taking their children to school, all at the same time using the car because they believe it's quicker and more comfortable than alternatives. Combined with not enough room and parking to accommodate all the vehicles and boom that's where we are now.

So lets look at each element of "the Problem" and either address or make sense of it.

1, Numbers
Firstly there are literally thousands of children going to school each and every day, quickly looking at Tamworth. 26 Primary schools with about 150 pupils in each plus 5 high schools with 1000 pupils and a 2 colleges, All these figures are based on nothing but my guesswork. So around 8900-10000 pupils or children moving each day between 7:45 and 9am and again between 3:00 and 4:30  WOW
maybe I should look at those figures again.but that is a lot and they need to get from home to school in a limited time.

2, Parental choice,

"Parents have a right to express a preference for a particular state school, and all schools (except grammar schools) must offer a place to every child who has applied if they have enough places.  But where schools are oversubscribed, the school admission authority (the local authority or the school governing body, depending on the type of school) must use over subscription criteria to determine admissions in accordance with the recently strengthened School Admissions Code."

Whilst there are positives to this policy just like taking a pill there will be side effects. One of these side effects is that the parents of children living "out of catchment" can quite rightly choose to send their children to a school of their choice based on whatever reason they choose such as family, they went there, friends, hearsay performance or absolutely what ever reason they want. The problem that this causes is that the child will then need to travel to said school and due to living "out of catchment" this will mean a distance that could well involve a motorised vehicle.

3, Working Parents
  More and more in today's world financial commitments is shared and families have 2 working parents. this changes things slightly with the school run. Assuming the parents have been able to find part time work or their shifts permit one of them can take the child to school and one could pick them up. This means the school run is no longer a stand alone task but can actually be a stop off point on the way to or from work, evidence of this can be seen with many parents in works uniform or logo'd clothing.

4, School age
  Many schools are still housed in the Victorian buildings that were built in the middle of villages which have been consumed by the urban sprawl . Or they late 1960's and 1970's, all of which were times when cars were not only a luxury but also a relative rarity. This means just like many housing developments of the same age they were built without the capacity for parking that we now.

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION

Well back in 2000,2001&2002 I was an opposition councillor for Belgrave and was invited along with a select group of local residents,councillors,head teachers and staff to attend a "safe routes to school" local committee because Birds Bush, St Gabriel's and Lakeside had been picked for the latest round of funding. I wont go into all the details but I will tell you about how my suggestion was thrown out.

  Birds Bush road in Tamworth is a estate loop road with wide grass verges and footpaths either side, along this loop there is a high school and a primary with nursery (that used to have a goat).

   I suggested that due to the daily congestion and parking issues take advantage of the wide verges and create parking bays either side of the road to allow parents to park safely without blocking the carriageway and therefore make it a safer place, the answers I got still astound me.

   "No we can't do that. The government policy (at the time) for safe routes to school is that any grant funding spent should be used to slow traffic down and discourage people using the car, your scheme will allow traffic to flow at speed and make it easier for people to use their cars"

And being in opposition at the time I quickly lost the debate. I still think I was right but we got speed humps

So what do we do?

• I Walk my children to school, 1.4mile round trip, more of us should if we can, it less stressful. and good for exercise and mental health. 
• Remember our highway code. Do not park on the foot path. Stop at a zebra crossing when people are waiting whether or not there is a crossing person there.
• Don't offload the most important thing in the world ,your child, into a live lane. Use the nearside door and let your child out onto a path or verge. 
• Planning committees etc when considering school building applications should ensure that drop of points are included and become a standard for new schools along with fire sprinklers. 
• Councils need to do more when planning schools in new developments, future proof the access routes.
• Just be considerate to others including residents and other parents and be polite it costs nothing

Whilst walking home from school with my 8 year old recently we talked about the number of cars on the route and we noted that including his school there are 3 in the area. My son asked the simple question "why don't the schools all have different start times half an hour apart?" this was followed with "my school can start at 10 so I get a lie in!"

I do wonder what appetite would be for local park and rides, such as park at Morrison's for a shuttle bus to the Belgrave schools, Wilnecote co-op for shuttle bus to Wilnecote and Dosthill schools etc etc. 

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