Cornwall County Council School Travel Strategy

• 1 Foreword

• 1 Scope of this Strategy
• 2 Introduction
• 3 Specific Objectives of this Strategy
• 4 Background
• 5 The Future of School Travel Plans in Cornwall
• 6 Implementing a Successful Strategy
• 7 Examples of Good Practice
• 8 Targets

• 1 Appendices

Cornwall County Council School Travel Strategy

1 Foreword

Every day in Cornwall, nearly 80,000 children travel to and from school and, in line with national trends, an increasing number make this journey by car. A new phrase has entered the English language – the ‘school run.’ And the effects of this phenomenon are clear for all to see in the form of increased traffic, pollution and congestion – particularly outside schools. More recently, research has begun to confirm what many had already feared, that lack of exercise amongst the young is leading to a higher incidence of obesity and other health complications such as diabetes.  Increases in traffic have tended to dissuade walking and cycling on safety grounds  leading to even more car use – we call it the vicious circle.  And, almost inevitably, those who have no choice but to walk tend to be from the poorer and more underprivileged sections of our communities. 

In Cornwall's Local Transport Plan 2001 - 2006 ( LTP 1), we started actively implementing strategies to break this circle, most notably through the Safer Routes to School Programme. Our Transport, Road Safety and Traffic Officers/Engineers met with school communities to carry out surveys and highlight what could be done to improve safety and encourage more walking. Infrastructure improvements were implemented and schools were encouraged to promote walking and cycling, principally through the implementation of School Travel Plans.  I have seen for myself the momentum that a successful School Travel Plan can generate.

The introduction of the Travelling to School Initiative in 2004 with its associated revenue and capital funding streams enabled Cornwall to devote more resources to this work and our School Travel Plan Team to formulate a strategy for ensuring that all schools have a School Travel Plan by 2010. This strategy set out in the following pages aims to build on the successes already achieved and enhance and develop the partnership working that has evolved over the last few years. It also describes how the quality of STP’s will be monitored and improved. Promoting safer, healthier more sustainable travel to school links closely with the priorities of Cornwall's Local Transport Plan 2006 - 2011 (LTP2) as a whole and I commend this strategy to you.

Matt McTaggart

Executive Member for Strategic Planning and Transport

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