Hackney to roll out new School Streets
The London Borough of Hackney is to ban traffic outside primary schools during opening and closing times from September.
The Schools Streets scheme is receiving £350,000 from Transport for London’s Streetspace programme, plus another £100,000 from Hackney Council.
Traffic restrictions, already in place at nine schools in the north-east London borough, will be rolled out to another 40 schools. This will help to ensure social distancing, protect people from increases in traffic as lockdown is relaxed and support cycling and walking, said the council.
The first School Streets were introduced in Hackney in 2017 which have been shown to decrease traffic by 68% on average, whilst the number of children cycling to school increased by 51%. Air pollution also fell by 74% following the introduction of school streets in the borough.
Hackney’s post-lockdown 'recovery transport strategy' will include:
- Road closures to help support citizens to walk and cycle
- Measures to improve strategic cycle routes
- Schemes in town centres to aid physical distancing and support walking, cycling and safe shopping
- Expanded road safety programmes and cycle training for local residents
To find out more, see this article from Transport Xtra.
Hackney also featured in our recent Post-Lockdown Mobility webinar on active travel to school post-lockdown, which you can read about here.
