Green Party community campaigner Alex Mace presses County Council to trial School Streets in Worcester

Green Party community campaigner Alex Mace
presses County Council to trial School Streets
in Worcester

Worcester Green Party community campaigner Alex Mace spoke at the Worcestershire County Council full council meeting on February 15th 2024 to ask that the county council implement trial School Streets for St George’s Roman Catholic Primary and Stanley Road Primary School in Worcester.

In response to being asked why he was asking the council to implement the trials, Alex said: “Worcestershire County Council needs to be held to account for their inaction on the road danger children experience simply by walking to school. Similar rural counties under Conservative control, like Warwickshire, Shropshire and Leicestershire have all been proactive in identifying schools suitable for
School Streets, setting up the trials, requesting funding from the Department of Transport and consulting residents after the trial has been started. Worcestershire thinks it knows better by requiring schools to request the School Streets, consulting residents before a trial can begin and creating a six month rota of volunteers to run the School Street. St George’s Roman Catholic Primary and Stanley Road Primary
School are ideal candidates for School Streets in Worcester and the county council should get on with trialng them before the end of the school year.” St George’s Roman Catholic Primary School is on Thorneloe Walk in Worcester. It is 3.7m wide at its widest point, and does not have a pavement. The Highway Code requires drivers to give 2m of space to pedestrians on a road with no pavement, which means it is not possible to safely drive down Thorneloe Walk at the start and end of the school day. A petition signed by 245 parents and residents asking for a
school street was presented to the county council in November 2022. Parents and residents conducted direct action to implement an unofficial School Street in summer 2023 after an increase in traffic due to the burst water main on Barbourne Road.

Stanley Road Primary School has seen two children hit by cars outside the school in a 12 month period. Parents and residents staged a protest outside the school on Friday 9th February to demand safer streets for children walking and wheeling to school.

School Streets close roads outside schools for one hour per day to allow children to safely walk and wheel to school. Residents and businesses are still able to enter and exit the school street during the closure, but through traffic is redirected to another route. School Streets have been shown to improve pupil attendance rates, improve local air quality and improve pupil attitudes when they arrive in school. A trial School Street requires no capital expenditure and can be run using existing officer time.