School Streets Advocacy – the (combined) efforts of campaigners and council officers. Tony Lenihan and Jessica Herbert from Leicestershire County Council describe the lobbying, engagement and social media that supported successful School Streets.
00:00 Local News Roundup including Low Traffic Neighbourhood and Playing Out successes, worrying reliance on conversion to EVs to improve local air quality, teaching bike maintenance to families, and plans for a two-way Cyclops.
14:38 Tony Lenihan (Sustainable Travel Coordinator) and Jessica Herbert (Safe and Sustainable Travel Manager) discuss experiences in Leicestershire of planning and implementing School Streets with support and challenge from campaigners.
Thank you brilliant so good evening everybody and welcome to active travel Cafe uh I’m delighted tonight to welcome Jessica and Tony from leerer County Council and they are here this evening to talk to us about school streets and uh their experiences in leersia delivering delivering School streets and also um
Connecting that with the other people in the community those Advocates and and how local advocacy can make a difference um now before we go on to our presenters shall we do a round of news uh who’s got some news for us this evening Bob you’re
Up yeah it’s um something from uh uh it it’s tweeted by all party parliamentary Cycling group and walking walking and Cycling group I’ll put it in the chat it’s a Public Accounts committee report and I I can’t really I only read through it briefly once I can’t make
Much sense of it I’ll stick the link up in the chat but it could be quite important fortive travel okay thank you Bob always a source of great news Adam you’ve got your hand up yeah B on that report um what I could read of it is the whatever
Committee said one thing and the count and the government went no we don’t agree but yeah there is yeah you’re right it needs a lot of a lot more detailed reading um just on what’s happening in bar and Northeast Somerset um they had three ongoing uh what they call livable neighborhood trials which
We call ltns and everybody else calls low traffic neighborhoods um the reports have come out basically in favor of them um two of the areas had very high support from residents and um in in general the there was one area called Southlands which had I think 57% of
Residents against it but the reasons they placed for being against it weren’t um um if you actually looked at the traffic data came out they there was the objections were invalid effectively you the claims they were making weren’t true so so they basically are think of going
Ahead with it um despite the headline figure of it being opposed um by residents and because the data doesn’t back up what the opposition reasons are for so um it’s an thing sort of I haven’t seen that before but that’s um it’s a good um I suppose it’s a good
Thing um and yeah that’s it okay thanks Adam um also with a question is a Kelly hello there hi it’s yeah it’s Andy Kelly I’m in Wilshire um got a couple of items um pretty slightly larger story and a smaller one which is relevant to today so first one is um Bradford on
Avens Town Council have just completed a traffic modeling exercise which is run or sorry activity and simulation I think it was U run by Atkins on behalf of wilch council um the initial results of that are on their website I’ll post the link shortly in the chat um summary
Though it it’s a bit of a mixed bag I think for active travel so looks like we’re getting some extra space a couple of rows for Cy paths and maybe some wider Pavements but the real pinch point in the town seems not to be getting anything um and they’re relying on EVS
Um to reduce so the air quality actually gets worse under this model the preferred model and they’re relying on EVS to uh help the air quality uh which I don’t think is a great outcome but um I’ll let other people judge that one uh interested to know if anyone has a
Chance to read it what their thoughts are um because um yeah I’m a little bit concerned by it um and then slightly smaller bit of news uh my wife’s actually a governor in the neighboring County of Batha Northeast Somerset where Adam is um she’s just um achieved a very
Small Milestone on the route to a school street so she has a temporary uh trro approved as of I think a couple of days ago for a playing out event at freshford Primary School uh she is really pleased about that um uh she’s actually at work
At the moment I’m hoping she might join uh when she gets back in time for the um end of the school streets session later on okay thanks Andy anyone else with some news today well you’re all a bit surprisingly quiet there’s normally More Than This wow okay oh I can see your hand
Waving Sarah are you waving let’s go um yeah I just want to say that um in farm and alers Shop we’ve had some big bike Revival money and um we’re doing learn to fix uh fix and we’re having a lead ride and the learn to fix that Sylvester’s
Bike shop has proved really really really popular and over subscribed and it’s uh a combination of adults with children as well so it’s going really well and we’re over subscribe for the next session and um so I’m just happy about that and hopefully we’re getting some money
From cycling UK and also uh our local authority to do some ride leadership training as well that’s BR s for those who might not know could you give us a bit of a summary about what the big bike Revival is oh um that’s um the big bike
Revival has been going for a couple or two or three three years now and it’s a behavior change program and um uh learn to fix it used to be called Fix learn and ride so we we’ obtained funding to have bikes fix and also teach basic riding skills and take people on
The bike ride learn to fix is a new thing and we just happen to have a really Family Center Bike Shop in farra run by a guy called Henry Sylvester and um learn to fix session was very good if you go to the cycl UK website you can find more about the
Um uh big bike Revival and the sort of behavior and psychology and the way of doing it um um and haven’t explained that very well um but Charlie’s here as well and he’s uh Gone on some of these sessions and I think he would give him a thumbs up wouldn’t you Charlie he’s
Hiding at the moment um well maybe we bring a bit more about big bike Revival and maybe help other other groups here to put in applications as well they are um we’ve we’ve put the Lear to ride in not the lent to ride the ride leadership I want to do some ride leadership
Because um I think our voluntary riding group ride Rushmore needs a bit of help to be to maintain its inclusivity and so we want some proper professional ride leadership training with a focus on inclusion because as soon as people get Keen they start sort of wanting the gear
And getting faster and longer rides and so it’s hard to sort of hook it back to its Beginnings terms of your own success yes exactly okay thank you Sarah you yeah Ruth your news well as usual it’s not really news it’s just a bit of a wing I’ve just done
A 20 mile bik ride to do a Wy for a funeral I’m going to on Thursday to see if I can do it and Richmond I think gets number one for the poorest poorest Road surfaces ever anywhere and I think people don’t realize just how much that impacts on cycling uh you
Know it takes up so much room on the road and we have to cycle much further out and drivers don’t get it and I’ve decided that I’m not going to risk my life on Thursday and it’s a real shame because it’ll take me forever to get to
This funeral and it’s why people drive so I’m sorry to Minge um wi better word but you know it’s not great thanks yeah take take care of yourself on your way whatever way you go um David your news yeah I just want to draw your attention to something I put in the chat
Which is um better drivers for better streets stickerly once you’ve cleaned the back of your car you can stick it next to the number plate and it’s basically a pledge it’s virtue signaling a pledge to drive safely or properly um but better streets for Birmingham are always coming up with new ideas and
They’ve somehow funded this it’s quite a nice sticker it’s a bit groty in the picture so we’ll see how it goes but it’ll be hopefully reassuring if a car passes you and gives you plenty of 3 1.5 meters you’ll have a better better driver’s sticker on the back I mean
Reckless driving as you know is a major problem particularly in Birmingham and the other news from last week is more more casualty so I just want to draw your attention to that on BET on Big bik Revival um this is cycling UK’s FL FL ship Behavior change scheme it’s right
Across the country it’s a similar one in Scotland be quite good to get someone from there to do an evaluation of it I think it it starts from the premise that there’s bikes endless bikes in garages and sheds that could be brought out um millions of them and it and it does work
On fixing your bike Behavior change and least the Cent up of setting up of Community Cycling clubs which has certainly made a big difference in Birmingham be quite good to get an evaluation from cycling UK on what they’ve achieved because they’ve had it for well since I was on the board so
It’s it’s probably 10 year old program now and it’s kept going dftt funded in the main but obviously in partnership with local authorities thank you thanks David Ben you’re up uh yeah some news I I heard this morning I’m trying to get to the bottom of it because it just sounds so good
From what I understand neighboring Council to me Central Bedford share are planning on removing all of the barriers from their land on cycleways which are not up to ltn 120 standard you know and this is obviously going to be quite an extensive program so you know really
Looking forward to to getting to the bottom of it and Confirmation all the rest of it because it’s extensive I’m imagining that they won’t be able to do it all in one year and that also will make it a particularly useful location for a research study that I’m aware of and
We’re looking for locations for where councils are committed to removing barriers but are willing to allow a one-year study before removal and then a one-year study after removal so they can be some some really good comparative data of the social impacts of removal you know across the entire cycle of
Seasons and so if people know of other locations where there are going to be barrier removals which might be be possible to to have such a study around be very interested to to learn about those so we can pass details on to those that are um organizing the
Research thank you Ben okay we’re getting quite tight on our question time now so all remaining questioners who have not asked a question already uh quick uh sorry news all people who haven’t given news yet quick quick news bite please H you’re up notes down quickly I’ve had an
Interesting debate on B bus stops um with the debate in London and we were going back to the experimental cycle rout in Bedford where they had a bike groups through the bus stop and all sorts of interesting things were drawn out in 1987 so we’ve learned nothing and um
That’s the thing we’re having also a debate on car park spaces um we my record is 83,000 pounds per space at penrith station but it’s generally about 20 to 25,000 per space of multi story that has to come out of budgets um what is the true cost of parking because I’m aware
That one company’s saving 2,000 pound a week by not renting it okay thanks H Toby quick news bites quick news bite giving you a heads up on uh embargo news still to come out uh the London cycling campaigns women’s Network um last year surveyed over a thousand uh
Women on um cycling in London uh their report is being launched this evening at an event and on social media tomorrow so look out for that okay I thought you were about to tell us the Embargo news I hate to say I can’t just to look out for
It that’s fine um thank you Toby and hopefully we’ll have a report on it at active travel Cafe if that’s not in the works we should make sure that we we do put it um in the diary we can certainly pass that one yeah Mark quick news bite
Um if anyone hasn’t already said this so Brighton Council last week um about the same time we were meeting last week um gave um approval to phase three of the Valley Garden scheme which is the scheme of the central Brighton so this is a scheme that’s been coming and going and
Coming going it link what’s there down to the Palace pier and we get rid of the palace Pier roundabout with a two-way Cyclops which I’d be interested in people’s views of if you have a look at it so instead of it going around the Cyclops the one way all the tracks cross
Will be two-way and also just on Ben quickly on Ben we’ve been doing this piece of work for York on barrier removal which I think is something Isabelle has been part of and we’re setting up a stakeholder panel of dis disabled um people and cyclists and so
On to look at barriers and barriers policy so it’ be good to chat to Ben about that at some point thank you Mark okay and thanks everybody for your news um and I think we probably turned recording on a step too early something’s missing on our little itinerary here so I’m just going
To do the introduction again so it makes it easy when we do the editing of the YouTube videos so bear with me good evening everybody and welcome to active travel Cafe I’m delighted that Tony and Jessica are joining us this evening from Lester County Council to talk about
Their um School streets project and the role that local Advocates can take in supporting them and I will now hand over the the screen and the sound to Jessica and Tony and hopefully you can give us a bit of an introduction about yourselves as well over to
You hello um yeah sorry so it’s me first um just want to check that everyone can see my screen before I start talking brilliant um so I’m Jessica Herbert I’m the safe and sustainable travel manager at leerer County Council um so managing Behavior change uh projects within the
Authority um for for walking cycling car share public transport and everything active travel really falls into myself and and Tony and the team um so I’m just going to run through a few slides around our school streets project um that started back in 22 um so um I
Was explaining when I was asked to join that there is quite a lot of information around the school streets project so forgive me because I’ve tried to squeeze a lot into into a short space so um I am absolutely comfortable if people want to ask questions or get in touch with me um
You know I’ll leave my email address um for people to contact me if they’ve got any further questions if you feel I haven’t covered um anything um that you want to ask um so as I said um in 2022 I was lucky enough to be asked to run
Project in partnership with our um trafficking signals team um they are the they’re the side of the um Department that would handle sort of the legal side of the road closures um so like I say we’re Behavior changed then we we linked up with with the road closure side as
Well um so it was a small pot of funding that was available and we invited all the schools in leerer um to apply an um with an expression of Interest as to why they would want to take part in the School Street scheme and what we had to
Do um is score them against the criteria um which included things such as Road classification location of the school bus routes um whether there was um available Park and stride locations and what commitment the school may have had um already to the active and sustainable travel agenda um in
Partnership with lerer County Council so once this process um had been conducted um we selected three schools to um to trial the school streets program out and you’re probably looking at my slide now thinking I’ve only listed two schools which You’ be absolutely right um and I
Can explain um that originally um we were looking at triing um different Road setups so for example the two schools that I’ve listed here um latima Street in an and um scotson Scotland Road in coille they’re both on CY Sachs whereas the third school um that was located in
Um therby um was a through route um so it was a main road through a village um we had to put diversions in place we had to manage a lot more through traffic um and a lot a lot more um movement for for residents coming out different different
Sides of the of the village so once we kind of had that in place it wasn’t deemed feasible for us to run we the setup that leester share chose to run School streets it didn’t really work and from from a safety perspective um and a road Network perspective it we didn’t carry that
Forward so I’m just kind of focusing on the the two schools that we did take forward but as I said I’m more than happy to take any questions at later time around sort of like the through root scenario that we had um with with therby um
So yes so what we did is like I say we we set up um a tra a an experimental regulation order so it’s a temporary order that we put in place to allow us to run the school streets um and as part part of this um what we originally wanted to do was
Potentially set up a community-led scheme but again with it with the budget and the time scale we had it it wasn’t feasible so Lester share County Council actually resourced this program so our officers were out Manning the closures um speaking to the community and running the scheme between September 2022 and um
October 2022 um and as part of this process um what we did we we had a consultation that was live throughout the um School streets trial we also conducted surveys um we also um did interviews and we also had um a traffic management surveys as well um and what that what
That did it did kind of show um that the school streets program was pos positive it had a positive effect I think over all the themes that were coming through from parents and carers um was that they felt um it was safer for their children
To be able to walk cycle scoop wheel to to school um but we did have um you know some responses through the from the community Through the consultation process where they supported it but they felt that there was potentially some tweaks um that could have been made and this
Included sort of shortening the closure time um changing of equipment and signs but for me one of the big things was um making the scheme uh sustainable and reliable moving forward and again that for me that kind of meant you know using um the authorities resource it it
Just wasn’t feasible we needed to kind of have a way that we could work with the schools and Community for them to to manage the the scheme so I’ll go into that in a bit more detail um so just to give a bit of an overview of what our
Scheme looked like with all my ramblings because I know I’m probably going in a bit of an odd order but um so our set up for school streets like I said was an experimental um uh reg traffic regulation order we used signs and barriers so there’s not any um camera
There’s no camera enforcement for this it would have been enforce enforceable um by the police um under like a traffic offense um so you can see from the picture here we had um the the two signs and the barrier which have now been exchanged for cones under health and
Health and safety uh revision um with the um risk assessment so the closure took place in the morning um drop offs and um the school pickup times in the afternoon and it was EV we we had restrictions for for everyone apart from Blue badge holders um we also allowed um
Residents to move in and out of the Koda Point um if necessary they would be given a permit um also emergency vehicles and deliveries so although um we say it’s a school street and it’s a a no vehicle Zone there were vehicles moving in and out um however this was very
Limited um and I would say there was no more than sort of 10 to 15 vehicles moving out during the period of the koser so it still felt like a a traffic free zone and people still felt safe um whilst like walking or scooting or or riding their
Bike um as I said um we wanted to provide practical solution so I think it was quite reasonable to understand not every parent or carer would be able to walk to school there are people that do need to use their vehicles so um we ensured that we had
Park and stride um facilities available two for each location so and they needed to be within a five minute walk from the school um so we worked with um the land owners so we had a mixture of um Local District car Parks retail um so so shops
Um local shops who were more than happy for parents and carers to use their car parking spaces during those drop off and pickup times and they were advertised um and they were also signposted um around um local communities so people knew where they were and that they were
Available so as I said we we did um we did ensure there was access um for local residents um employees um so the two sites although they’re on CIS saacks they were mixed juice so we had not only the school but we had a couple of businesses and also had residents so we
Needed to ensure that we we were catering for them um so a big part of of sort of the school streets program was communication and engagement with the community um so we wanted to work with the schools to ensure that um we were we were making sure everyone was aware what was
Happening when they could or couldn’t access the Zone what they would be entitled to um we made sure we supported the schools in the community with um the choose how you move website which is our leester County Council and leester City’s um active and sustainable travel website as well as using our social
Media channels we did do community engagement and we supported the school with that so they were hosted at at the school or nearby um village Halls where we invited the school to host it but we went and supported we placed fliers in the local community as well as advertising like I
Said the local park and strides and making sure that we’re communicating with parents and carers through newsletters um and making sure that the the school were in charge of that um so as I said like one of the big parts for me was making sure that this was
Sustainable moving forward so when we when we took all of the considerations of the uh con the consultation from the September to October um trial we did Implement um a second trial from June 2023 which meant that we worked in partnership with the schools to take ownership so so they ran the school
There was no LCC offices so no l County Council offices out on site we equipped um the school with um PPE equipment signs and barriers um health and safety um instruction videos training um and uh risk assessments and actually the school um were more than happy to take it on I
Think I think the positive thing about is taking the risk of LC LCC officers delivering the first trial meant that the school then didn’t want to go without it so the fact that they stepped up to the plate they felt confident in the scheme um we ired out those tweaks
Um we gave them the necessary things to kind of move it forward um the lir location has actually now paid a person to be there Monday to Friday morning and afternoon to run the closures and the Beaverdale School in cville um have their staff Manning the closure every
Day so again that we’ve we’ve got that clear commitment and we also have got a memorandum of understanding with the schools that you know it is their responsibility to to run that um but we provide the equipment and the um traffic ordering that will allow them to do
That um so just um in a bit of a nutshell um I’m gonna say it was a it was positive um it was a positive outcome um 93% of the of the parents that were surveyed um said it said it was positive think you can see from the
Comments there a lot of the concerns people had were around safety and they felt that like I said that their children were able to kind of travel um to school by bike scooting walking um the families and children you know the school said they noticed a difference in the family and children
Arriving in the mornings it also reduced the amount of lateness um you know every day um and also we with with this with putting the changes in place um in the second consultation we actually had no objections to the scheme so we found we feel like we found a balance between the
Community and and the businesses the residents in the businesses and the school so still to be able to encourage that mode shift away from the single car OCC or you know the car the car congestion at the school gate um so we we are looking to make this a permanent
Scheme in lerare for those two schools and obviously um if we did have any funding um additional funding available then we would be looking to to implement this in other locations across the county um so like I say sorry it was a bit of a of a Whistle Stop T around Le
Sh School feets but um I’ll hand over to Tony now um but like I say I’m happy to take any questions after and thanks ever so much for listening bear with me want I just share the screen sorry thanks Jessica I need to stop sharing brilliant thanks Jessica and over to you
Tony can you see my screen yes we can perfect evening all what a gloriously intimidating bunch of experts on this um on this call um I’m Tony I also working um in the Tuesday move team with um with Jess at leerer and I was just going to give
Um just uh five minutes on the power of um advocacy as we call it so we uh just a bit of background we’re the behavior change team at the County Council um the way leerer is set up is there’s a County Council and the seven district um
Councils as well um we work under the CH how you move Banner that’s a joint operation with the city council just to add confusion but um we at the county are the behavior change part of um the whole active travel and highways and DEP highways and transport
Department um we we we noticed a couple years ago some increased um activity around our social media posts um from from a particular um account these comments were some really kind of well-informed comments asking us some very polite but quite challenging difficult questions about funding and programs and schemes
What we were doing why we were doing certain things and where we were doing it someone obviously had a bit of knowledge and understanding of active travel as a as a concept um and and a principle but also a kind of a desire to understand how local authorities work
Because we I think will be the first to admit that we can be a bit illogical and a bit kind of labyrinthine in the way that we the way that we work and the some of the working practices and the the way we set up so we started to see
This um challenge coming our way and in these posts there’s a kind of willingness to to kind of tag in and include and engage with senior um political figures lead members our lead members MPS um and also to flag up schemes and ideas and good practice from around the
Country so this person obviously had a bit of a bit of a network um behind them um we we made contact UM with Rachel who’s on the call um at some point and began a bit of a dialogue and really the the message I’m kind of getting across is for a local
Authority um there is a real benefit in having um what we would call a critical friend or an informed Outsider um which is said in the nicest possible way someone who can cast a bit of an impartial eye over what we’re doing as the authority because I think
We’re all guilty of sometimes just looking inwards um and to have someone who can um make a point and uh make representations and be very very busy on L busy out there um is um a real a real bonus um what she can do is to um spot where
We’re duplicating efforts um which sometimes happens where we overlap with work spotting areas where people don’t necessarily communicate with each other within within the local Authority um breaking down some of those barriers and helping us to kind of self-reflect on on the way we work and although we did
Consultations and in the normal way you would do for schemes and LC whip schemes and all the rest of it we didn’t really have this kind of um advocacy uh before kind of Rachel came along um she she highlighted the kind of some of the things that we’ve got an engineering
Side to to the department as well as the behavior change side of the department same you know different sides of the same coin but often we didn’t communicate as well as that we could have done um and her kind of questions and presence um has has made that has
Made that improved it led to a me it led to a meeting with our kind of lead member richel came in in person um one of the criticisms actually travel England um leveled that other actually is an authority was the lack of political engagement at a senior level
The schemes were were okay um but there was no kind of figurehead at senior political level as there is in other parts of the country um we are trying to address that and and that whole process started by this meeting that we had in person M ra came into County all um and
Um listened to us and met the lead member um and helped I think to increase the political the political buying um for for what we’re doing um on these slides I’m just going to I’ve just done three or four slides of um just some example tweets that um that Rachel’s
Posted um and you she goes under the name of Le of cying um you can see this this tweet here talks about um mentioning stuff that she seen a local Facebook groups obviously telling us that she’s she’s active in those Facebook groups um question you know direct question and then tagging in
Alberta Costa the local MP so straight away um straight into into that level of um of intervention this next one quite a long thread here but this is starts off with a summary of active travel route from AR Harbor’s new 900 home Airfield farm development that’s a big
Development in the south of the county she’s obviously read the plans for that so she’s well informed talks about the top path surface she’s been down there and walked it give some positive comments and some feedback and then quite um rightly as well make some constructive criticism about the quality
Of some of the some of the surface there so you know well informed well researched and a well argued Point um there in a way that we just can’t ignore even who wants to ignore it you know when you um subject to that kind of feedback it is very difficult to
Ignore here’s another one sounds exactly like the Middle Lane issues in Enderby that’s the school with particular problems parents at the school think care should cars should be restricted at school start and stop times well how do you know that Rachel because you’ve obviously done some work down there and
You’ve got yourself involved um with the school so so you’re reporting that um and then some tactical tagging as we call it of um The Local District Council and others Road Safety lure that kind of stuff so again kind of spreading the word far and wide really um and
Lastly um down at Market Harbor again in the south of the county flagging up to a followers um a survey about cycle parking and giving some tips and suggestions about um what the answers should be really um so all of this led to um setting up a cycling walking and
Wheeling Forum which was quite a new departure for us um an iners an online simultaneous Forum we had about 50 people um come to County Hall and join us online as well and we had a representative from act travel England and um the head of our policy and
Strategy team um gave an input um and the aim of the in the inaugural um Forum was to kind of um it wasn’t a charm offensive far from it but it was an opportunity for us to actually get out to some interested people what we’re doing why we’re doing it to kind
Of reassure people that we get it that we’re we strap for cash as everybody is but you know although we’re short on cash we’re not shorten ideas or ambition and it was an opportunity for us to get that across and then begin the process of a two-way exchange of information and
Try and um include more people in our decision- making and our kind of plans in a way that we hadn’t done before so I think um when I was just thinking about what to say here I joted down some kind of qualities of of a successful Advocate
If you like and I’ve written down knowledge pragmatism because we can be hard to deal with as an authority sometimes um diplomacy and tactfulness persistence and tenacity and um I think what I would just leave you with is is to reassure anybody who is campaigning and I know there are some campaigners on
This call keep going because um it does get through to the right people um in local authorities decision makers and people um higher up the political chain so keep going it is valued and um and we do we do take notice of it so that’s really what I wanted to lead you with
Thank you thank you so much Tony thank you Jessica and dare I say it thank you Rachel um who is is sitting here with a bright red face um and as a as an advocate myself Rachel um I might need to go and take some notes right shall we open the floor for
Questions um as we always do we’ve got in the chat using question at the start or pop up your hand uh Sarah you’ve popped up a hand why don’t you ask your question first um yes I live in uh my local Authority is Hampshire and my District Council is
Rashm Council and we have got lots of potential in rashm more for school streets and based on a message sent to me by cycling UK I promoted a link to some school streets training and I sent the message to any perceivable contact local counselors local Council officers County councilors County Council officers and
Um I think there’s a problem in that one of my uh I actually I emailed you about this when I heard that school streets was on I’ve sent an email to active travel Cafe um this is a message from one of our one of my campaigners who who says well this is a
County issue this is not he he’s from Hart which is another District Council um he said well this is to do with the counc County Council it’s not a a district council issue but um the problem is it’s the ward counselor that has the ward with the street that we
Want to turn into a school street and if this if the whole concept is imposed I don’t probably wrong word it’s imposed by the local Authority and all of a sudden surprise the war counselors and the school and then you get a lot of people that just want to Herald the
School run and it just doesn’t seem to work and I noticed the schools that were there’s a positive out time to come in the schools that are CAC well that is quite and that that’s quite easy to do well obviously isn’t easy to do but it’s
Easier to do than a School Street that’s actually a rat run and if it was low traffic neighborhood it wouldn’t be a rat run and um I I think there’s such a distance between the local Authority and the B Council that when then the scheme’s imposed
Ona can we wrap that one up into a question so it’s about yes how do I yes sorry how do I how do I deal with this mess how do I engage how do I just make it not a local authority issue and bring it to the
Community thanks Sarah yeah so so is it is a difficult one I think again I think I think quite H honest in terms of it does appear that nothing is straightforward but we we were very lucky in the terms of the the concept of school streets obviously before we go
Ahead and we say we’re going to do it we do engage with our local District councilors our members um you know they have to be um on board with the concept before we can implement it you know um so for us as a local Authority and a
Department we make sure that you know we’re working with the districts and that we have support for that um sorry because I you’d said quite a lot there and I had a few in my head as you were talking I had some answers to the questions um so and again it it does
Flip because we’re the highway Authority so people do tend to put the own us on on us that we are the ones that get that have the authority to do the tra traffic regulation orders so I think when people saying this is a an a highway issue or a a County council issue
Um I imagine they mean that the districts don’t have the power to implement the the school streams so that that might be a barrier that in your local area that you’re that you’re facing um whereas and then when sorry just thinking about what you said as well and
In terms of the the through Roots I you’re right I think really honest about cacks they are easier to manage um and that we do need to find it school streets isn’t going to be a solution for every um site um or school and there will be barriers
That I don’t think like I say this this solution is one that will tick every school school off and and will be possible so again it it might seem like a quick win but it does work you know we do have positive outcomes from it and we
Had have seen an increase in active travel with the the peoples and the parents that we’ve worked with at those two schools um but yes we need to find another solution for those School those through routs you know in lerare that you you you might you know you called
Like a rap I I understand that and know i’ be quite honest about that it’s not a perfect solution that would fit all Road types and and school school locations um but you know I’m happy again you know I’m always happy to have a chat um and obviously I know Rachel’s
Um done some work with us so again I could have a chat with Rachel and maybe a group together if Rachel was up for it about some more of the background work we did um with local members or or District Council yeah I guess from a campaigning perspective you need to
Understand found who your key I guess your key stakeholders are who are your key movers and shakers so there’s a school in a village near here where I know they’re up for looking at a school street so we’ve already got the school thinking right yeah and the parents even
Saying yeah we want this so you you know you’re picking off a certain school and then my next bit my next piece of sort of thinking if you like is right who are the counselors in that Village because they need to be engaged and then you
Kind of you know you target those people and I happen to know one or two of them so that helps and then you instead of thinking right you got to connect the district council because that’s the district council level with the County Council because in my head I see the
County Council I mean it’s It’s Tricky where we are because we’ve got two levels of author Authority but the County Council is almost like the deliverer so you know if the district council is saying we need this School Street and then banging on their door the county count it’s it’s much harder
For the County Council to ignore them so it it’s sort of a combination all your different stakeholders it’s your you know your school saying we want this it’s the district council level saying we want this or Town Council whatever it is however it works with you and then
It’s the County Council saying yeah we’ve got the funding we can come along and and do this so it’s really understanding who the key players are and you know with within your political setup my setup’s very similar to yours I think Rachel I just don’t think we’ve
Got the engagement within the W quite and that’s what I’d work on is go to that school go work out who the counselors are even the officers because I work with the officers at a yes I know I know that stuff yeah thank you yeah but that’s that’s the only way it’s
Worked for me you know is is really getting in there all right shall we get a couple of our other questions through and then see if we can get more into into this at the end so um I’m just going to batch the two questions
Together here um can we have a bit more detail about the School Street scheme on a through route that wasn’t taken forward was it on a classified Road for example and the other question um did some of the land owners who offered their space for Park and stride want
Anything in return um so for Jessica and Tony so yeah so um Park and strid is an easy or no they didn’t um to be honest um we don’t have I think probably um the selling point is footful so if it’s a business you know um they’re inevitably
Going to get um a bit more footfall probably from people that are parking there what one of them was like a local grocery shop um so for example I imagine you know you’d hope that you know maybe the the parental career would nip in before or after if they needed any
Supplies or things like that or it you know gives a bit of advertising to local business but they never specifically said as part of the agreement or arrangement for using it as a park and stride that was never discussed um they were just happy to do it we were very
Lucky with the four locations um but we do have more Park and strides across the county in general that aren’t linked to school streets and again um we do sell it as more of a greater good um being part of the community and enabling um you know a safer and more pleasant space
Um reducing um congestion outside schools so um you know our team have never had to you know had to have an agreement where the the land owner um H you know has to receive anything in return um in terms of Ferby um so we did
We did we did close the road off so so the setup for therby was it’s it it’s essentially what you like we’ve described as a rat run so um as you go into the center of Thurby where the school is you come off an a road so you
Come off an a47 and it’s a small road that runs through um The Village um but people use it to get to to other localities so um it’s it’s a run to get through to another local town that hasn’t a high school um and obviously employment sites so there was a
Diversion there’s two roads that go into Thurby um and one of them comes up to a t Junction um so so there was a very reasonable what I would call a reasonable um solution in the diversion however it was just the amount of traffic coming off that aoad that
Weren’t either noticing or taking note of the diversion signs or chancing it was too high um so what I would say is that you know effectively you weren’t really creating a school street because you’re forever letting cars through um you know and it was quite a long stretch
That we had closed off so we couldn’t see end to end and we had to use walkie-talkies and there was quite a lot of traffic management set up involved in that situation and I think for the type of school streets that Lester share are running at the moment it wasn’t feasible
Um to continue that site um and I wouldn’t ask a volunteer or a member of the public to run a closure of that level I don’t I don’t think it was feasible um so it it was it was predominantly the amount of traffic that would come off that a a road into the
Center of the village thanks Jessica uh another question for you um did your schools survey their parent cohorts to find out how many blue badge holders there were among them um and therefore get a steer on um what provision was necessary and actually I just broaden that to to broadly anything interesting from
Surveys of parents yeah so um we did work with the schools before the closures went into place so um as um what was really lovely about the schools we worked with they do know their parents and pupils really well um so we did find out um if there was any um blue
Badge requirements and the schools um did work with us to allow access to their so to their car Parks or facilities on site so it was again taking that um vehicle off the road outside the school um and for children that may H have um any additional needs
Um or um say for example they dropped off at the gate and they weren’t able to to deal with a change or they they had some some issues that that we needed to manage um again the school were the schools were really good and they were
Part of the solution for that so we were allowed a permit to drive through but the parents were allowed on the site to be able to to drop their child off instead of again pulling up within within the School Street Zone um to be honest the the the parent survey
Um it was pretty standard so so we obviously we were asking about mode of travel before and after um and we um had had an open comments box so we tried to keep it quite short because we wanted people to fill it out um essentially and we’ve never done very
Well with really long surveys we found that we get more engagement when they’re short and snappy um and like I say 93% of those were positive comments um and and like I say I think for me the main theme that came through was around um the the safety element so the perception
Of safety that came with the school streets to allow that active to the to allow that travel um so yeah sorry I hope I hope that answers it sorry brilliant brilant um this was one of my questions um Tony when you mentioned this stakeholders Forum with 50 or so
Stakeholders um and I can imagine I’m sure we can all admit what we’re like here um a lot of opinions uh so how did you moderate and manage so many um stakeholders to keep that positive well you’re assuming that we did um it was you’re right there was a lot of
Um I mean obviously everyone who came had had stuff to say and Views and opinions all perfectly valid um one of the one of the kind of um things we had to guard against was it was a countywide forum and obviously a lot of people have
Got very very local um issues so we had to manage people’s expectations to come to a countywide forum to talk about a public footpath um or gate or something in their own particular Village so we tried to make it clear at the beginning that it was a countywide thing um it was
Our very first one we were very keen to kind of show that we were listening to people although the first one was um more necessarily a bit of a oneway street because we had stuff to say because we wanted to kind of um let people know that we got it and but why
We did what we did and and how we how we did certain stuff um but in terms of moderating and managing it really um everyone was prettyy well behaved you know and we we had we had probably a third of the people online at the same
Time so it was a hybrid type um thing we had people in the um the council chamber at at County Hall so it was pretty um quite quite a nice setting um and I think it was just a case of us setting I started out early um saying what the
Forum was what it probably more importantly what it wasn’t going to be what it couldn’t be um we ran out of time our time management was shocking um and we you know we we we massively underestimated how long our stuff would take um and you know we were very keen
To take feedback from the first one not just for ourselves in terms of organization but also from the people who came um their views of the speakers that we had and the content of the the talks that we had and the usefulness of it and the relevance of it so it was a
Bit of a test bed um and we’re doing it six Monthly our next one is in March we’ve got some stuff some ideas from the first one in that we’re going to put into practice we think for the second one but to answer your question we can’t
I think the key is just making clear at the beginning what it what it was and probably more importantly what it wasn’t and everyone was pretty well behaved it was good okay brilliant brilliant um another question and actually one I hadn’t quite thought of before so um
Firstly is this for primary schools or secondary schools um quite interestingly is uniform and inhibitor to recycling comfortably especially in Winter um and perhaps all the other coats and jackets and things that that kids might need to do this has that come up at all as being an
Inhibitor um so in terms of school streets that that is it’s Primary School um so it’s targeted at primary schools we haven’t um explored or looked at secondary schools as of as of yet um in terms of uniform that that’s something interesting that hasn’t hasn’t come up
At primary school age um I don’t know whether that’s got something to do with moms and dads obviously probably walking along if H for the younger children if they’re cycling on their bikes they might be carrying their bags and coats and and stuff and for those older ones
Um again it’s not it’s not really come up for year five and six sort of like bike ability age um but that’s a really interesting point and I guess that’s something I be honest I’m quite interested to take that away it’s not really come up as a barrier in
Conversations we H we’ve had um secondary schools um that is some work that I’m looking into you know in lerare to um kind of broaden out um we do have I think some authorities have opportunities for um links in with road safety around transition funding um so
Transitioning from that year six to year seven where we are um and how that we can encourage those skills that the pupils have learned in bikability and actually Implement them and be allowed to cycle to that Secondary School by themselves so it’s probably an area that
Need to know a bit a bit more about in terms of those barriers that those peoples might face it’s a really interesting point because we talk about it with adults don’t we we talk about you know people either dressed for work or commuting and stuff and that being a
Bit of a barrier I always remember me and Tony went to a business years ago and Tony was absolutely trying to convince a lady that lived I think within three miles of the business to cycle but she absolutely wouldn’t because there’s nowhere to straighten her hair uh when she got there so I
Think it’s a really interesting point that we perhaps don’t think about with with children yeah Jessica um could I just bring in one very very quick thing if you don’t mind really sorry it’s also about the bikes that we have in this country where they tend not to use pxs
And mudguards as we know in Holland they all do and therefore as they get into Secondary School they’ve got nowhere to put there very heavy school bags because they don’t have desks anymore so that’s also you know school uniform the impact of girls and skirts and Blazers but also
Pxs and carrying stuff on bike so that’s it is quite important research thank you yes they’re making it making it a norm yeah so yeah absolutely agree with that yeah and and even when I started cycling as an adult I can relate to that you it
You don’t bring it up as an issue almost because you don’t know what the options are what it could be so how do we facilitate or people might not even quite realize it’s their barrier um right away so um yeah something for us to think about for kids as well um I
Think this is our our last question um it sounds quite General but let’s think about it in the context of school streets and then perhaps of those Journeys to secondary school for older um students but how can the County Council ensure their maintenance teams take clearance pars and Roots seriously
Um and because of this project what um Behavior change might be expected um from the council around maintenance yeah so um this did come up as part of the school streets in terms of um um sort of like when you’re suggesting a park and stride route and you might have um what
We call a jitty um or an you know a shortcut that people might take that full of dog poo or um has broken glass or you know it might be a hangout for you know later in the day for um for for for younger people I don’t know so it
Did come up and obviously when we were made aware of those situations as project managers we we would work W with the appropriate people in order to kind of make sure those routes that we’re promoting are clear um but I think kind of generalizing that out to to our
Department in terms of Highways you know it’s a really important part of you know our our LC whip work our walking and cycling policy um you know we are broken down into different departments and teams at the highway and we are trying to make sure that we that holistic
Approach in terms of like you say about all those barriers around um active travel walking and cycling especially when either things aren’t maintained or there are unpleasantries along the way you wouldn’t you wouldn’t trust a route on any given day what you might find along there so um again just in the
Interest of being completely honest um there are roots and times that that will be missed or or potentially not maintained um in line with the funding we have available the maintenance budget but as part of the agenda that we have in terms of the commitment to walking
And cycling and uh the strategies the the policies the LC whips that our department of building we recognize that it’s a really key element in order to kind of encourage that and enable that behavior change for people so I do agree but I don’t perhaps all the have it’s
Probably a bit probably a bit higher up than me in terms of like the decision making element but you know in terms of pushing that message through it’s definitely there from us a key element wonderful thank you Jessica and Tony uh that appears to be all the
Questions that we have um but I just thought I might be cheeking see if Rachel wants to make any last comments because youve you’ve been mentioned so much Rachel so if you’ve got any any comments to make just a big thanks to to Tony and Jeff for doing that and um yeah
We’ve got a long road ahead I think but it’s really great to just have an open-minded team to work with and they are great and they they have responded really positively so um we’ve got complexities you know the different layers of government and so on but no
It’s it’s really good I’ve been really pleased the problem we’ve got I think which they will recognize is funding it’s government pushing you know the local authorities to get on with it uh and to give them the um commitment to funding to do it uh and that’s I’d say
That’s the only thing really holding us back um in this area I think we’re like many other areas we’ve got congestion the pollution I think the political leaders can see we’ve got to get on with it but we need the funding because we are very we you know we have no money
Like everybody else we’ve got no money so that’s what I’d say yeah but big thanks to Jess and Tony for doing that thanks Rachel and sorry I know um time I would I don’t know whether Rachel it’s worth mentioning you know that the work that you’ve done really inspired other
Other people across the districts and actually that’s that we can link up on work in terms of like a best practice sharing or idea sharing with the district I’m so sorry your mic’s oh sorry oh is it not working it’s it’s giving us a lot of static
Sorry yeah it’s quite tricky because you got the C counsil and then you’ve got seven district or burough councils so you know and I have spent quite a bit of time pushing all of them actually I’m in one District but you know I’m connected into others that with the change in um politics
As well I think that’s helping quite a bit as well you know with the with the local elections and the balance of power shifting a bit in some of the authorities that’s really starting to help so yeah just just look out for where you are getting those changes in
In in politics because you will to see that makes quite a bit of difference too yeah thank you Rachel I’m so sorry Jess no it’s okay I don’t know if you can hear me now yes we can I’ll let yeah yeah so I was just literally G to
Say like them I think you know again it’s a two-way street with the thanks for for Rachel because actually what it’s done it’s opened up our our team to be able to work in partnership not only with Rachel but she’s we we’ve been able to meet with other districts and other
Things that going on like neighborhood forums and kind of share ideas and I know it’s not idea not everyone need so but I’ve been off um for a few weeks with as a gap but I’m really excited to pick up that work and it’s really good
To be able to feel part of that community that have such a passion for active travel in L us year and and you know be able to have those conversations so I just wanted to say I really appreciate that and I think it’s a really good piece of work
So brilliant okay well thank you to our lovely speakers and our participants and um also for all the excellent tips that have been popping up in the chat as well so if anyone is looking for some advice take a look in the chat also um but I
Think that that will be it for us this evening um so thank you everyone and uh safe and happy cycling and we will see you next week and next week if my laptop will let me pull it up I’ll tell you who our speakers are or not it’s a bit slow today I’m
Sorry so thank you everyone we’ll see you next week bye