More Liverpool schools help to clear the air

Liverpool City Council is set to phase in camera enforcement at six further locations around primary schools to improve safety and boost air quality.

Known as School Streets, this project involves introducing a range of measures on roads close to schools that will reduce or calm motorised traffic, aiming to not only keep children, parents and residents safer by reducing congestion, but also to improve air quality and encourage active travel.

Measures include restricting access to roads, or sections of roads, close to schools when pupils are being dropped off in the morning and picked up in the afternoon.

Schools work in partnership with the council to implement the measures and four further schools will join the six primary schools in the city which are already part of the national initiative.

The six additional locations to be phased in from today, Monday 4 November, and the affected roads are:

• St Clare's Catholic Primary School - Whole of Garmoyle Close
• St Cuthbert's Catholic Primary School - Church Road (from Prescot Road to Selkirk Road)
• St Cleopas C of E Primary School - Whole of Barclay Street
• Christ the King Catholic Primary School - Whole of Fieldway and Meadway (Entire length from Wavertree Nook Road)
• Rice Lane Primary school - Whole of Brockenhurst Road from Rice Lane will be added to the existing timed access restriction on Lynwood Road.
• St Michaels in the Hamlet Community Primary School - Camera enforcement to be included Neilson Road from St Michael's Road.

The times when the School Streets restrictions are in operation for all the above are from 8.15am to 9.15am and from 2.30pm to 3.30pm during term time.

Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras will be used at these schools to support enforcement of the restrictions however exemptions can apply.

School staff or parents who have a Blue Badge, or who need to drop off or pick up a child with SEND, can ask the school to apply for a camera exemption permit.

People who live on a School Street or someone who is a carer or a Blue Badge holder who regularly visits a resident on a School Street can apply for an exemption via the council's website.

Various School Street measures are already in place at: Mab Lane, Much Woolton Catholic, Greenbank, St Michael in the Hamlet, Rice Lane, and St Gregory's. These projects have shown that School Streets are effective in improving air quality by reducing congestion around the school site.

Monday's phasing in will help the Council achieve its objective of creating up to 50 School Streets over the next four years, as set out under Pillar 5 of the Council Plan - A well-connected, sustainable and accessible city. Earlier this year, consultations were carried out at 20 further schools and it is hoped that School Streets will be implemented at these in the next year.

Schools that are interested in a road near them becoming a School Street can contact [email protected]

Cllr Dan Barrington, Liverpool City Council's Cabinet Member for Transport and Connectivity, said: "After the success of the first School Streets, I'm so pleased that the Council is able to support further schools to make their communities safer.

"School Streets are a great example of the Council working with whole communities - schools, parents and residents who live near the schools - to make our environment safer and more pleasant for everyone.

"Schemes like School Streets succeed because the majority of people understand their value and pull together to make them work. I have every confidence that these new School Streets locations will bring improvements for everyone in the community."

Simon O'Brien, Liverpool City Region's Walking and Cycling Commissioner, said: "There is nothing more important than the health of our children. So clean air and a feeling of calm around our schools at drop off and pick up are vital to help the pupils grow and learn in a positive environment.

"Well done to Liverpool City Council for enabling more schools to achieve these aims."

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