Agenda item

Report of the Director of Placemaking and Housing. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Climate Action, Environment, and Transport and Deputy Leader of the Council.

To agree the changes to the processes and policies related to the School Streets, and the new batches of the School Street programme until 2027/28.

The Cabinet Member for Climate Action, Environment and Transport, and Deputy Leader of the Council introduced the report, which sought approval of the proposed School Streets Plan, which set out the recommended plan for delivery of School Streets in Haringey until 2025/26.

The Cabinet Member highlighted the following achievements and benefits of the School Streets programme:

-       The borough had one of the most successful School Streets programmes in London with 23 School Streets and one of the fastest growing programmes.

-       The need to protect early educational establishments from traffic volumes and improve safety on the road and Streets for children and young people. The highest number of accidents occurred for children under the age of 12 during School drop off times.

-       Significantly accepted programme in Schools and the community. Acknowledgement of the additional protections that the School Streets programme provides to health and wellbeing.

-       The aim was to continue the programme until there was a School Street outside every educational establishment in the borough.

-        Delivering the aims of reduced traffic volumes outside Schools reduced oxide levels.

-       Increase in walking and cycling.

-       Aim to have healthy Streets and healthy School zones, for Schools that were not able to have a School Street i.e. those on a main road.

In response to questions from Cllr das Neves, and Cllr Cawley – Harrison, the following information was noted.

-       The Council’s Active Travel team worked closely with Schools and 100% of Headteachers, that have received School Streets, were in support of them.

-       School Streets were part of the hard infrastructure of tools to improve the environment and air quality in the borough. The Active Travel team were part of the soft infrastructure of the Council taking forward initiatives to improve air quality in and around Schools which involved parents and carers. The success of the schemes was underpinned by upfront engagement , in line with Haringey Deal principles, to identify any early issues and resolve any legitimate concerns that Headteachers, staff, parents and carers had. This way of working would be continued for the forthcoming schemes.

-       With regards to meeting the future funding requirement for an increased Schools Streets programme, this was through 50% capital funding and 50% external funding. The Council were confident in securing the expected external funding through external sources such as the Mayor's Air Quality Fund and government public health funding. The Council were further expecting to exceed the forecasted receipt of external funding required.

-       The 18-month period of the School Streets scheme was an experimental traffic order and had allowed the Council to adjust a scheme based on feedback. This report was proposing that the schemes were designed up front and implemented based on the community feedback received. The newer process was commented to be more inclusive as it allowed the Council to seek the views of the community beforehand, and allowed a smoother, quicker deployment of the School Street.

-       With regards to including Christchurch Road in the Coleridge School Street, there had been discussions with the community groups and site visits taken forward by officers. They had advised that this road would be part of a wider highways intervention programme.

-       Some Headteachers were indicating that more active travel was benefiting pupils’ learning and enabling them to have better learning receptors. This was good area to explore further with education colleagues to understand if there were further learning benefits that these interventions could also deliver.

RESOLVED to

1.            Approve the proposed direction that the Council intends to take in the School Street Plan (which is set out in section 6 of the report) to introduce School Streets in its area.

2.            Approve the School Street programme identified in Appendix A of the report, delivery of which will be subject to the outcome of design, consultation and delegated decision-making.

3.            Approve the Healthy School Zones programme identified in Appendix B of the report.

4.            Approve changes to the School Street exemptions as identified in Appendix C of the report.

Reasons for decision

In 2020, Cabinet approved the first School Street Plan^[1] (the ‘2020 Plan’) which set out a funded delivery programme until 2024/25, focussing mainly upon primary Schools. Over this 4-year programme, the Council set out that it would work to deliver 20 new School Streets within Batch 1 and its associated budget. However, over the first 4 years of this programme, the Council has now delivered a total of 28 School Streets within this budget and, in doing so, became one of the most successful Councils in terms of delivery.

As this successful programme moves towards its conclusion, a new – more ambitious – School Street Plan is necessary to bring the benefits of these projects to even more of our School children and communities. The new School Street Plan reflects the administration’s 2022 manifesto commitment and the specific targets contained within the Corporate Delivery Plan 2022/23 and 2023/24 (see Section 7).

To tackle toxic air around those Schools that are considered unsuitable for a School Street, a separate programme of Healthy School Zones is considered appropriate and therefore approval is sought to commence delivery at those locations.

A consistent set of exemptions for School Streets have been in place since the 2020 Plan but, in light of experience during that period, minor changes are considered necessary and recommended within this report.

Alternative options considered

Do nothing

With the current School Street Plan nearing its conclusion, this option would result in, at best, an ad-hoc approach towards School Streets or, at worst, no more School Streets being delivered. This would not align with the administration’s manifesto commitment or Corporate Delivery Plan. Therefore, this option was rejected.

An alternative order of delivery

It would not be possible to deliver all School Streets at the same time. Therefore, this Plan sets out a three-year programme until 2025/26. The order of priority has been based upon (a) in-flight projects (b) a multi-criteria assessment (MCA) where each School has been scored against several criteria to provide a prioritised list (Appendix A). Whilst many alternative criteria could be applied, officers consider that the recommended approach is logical.

Where a School Street is not considered feasible or necessary, for example where a School is not on a borough road, on a classified road, has very low numbers of pupils or where existing highway layouts mean that measures similar to a School Street are already in place, then that School has been identified for a Healthy School Zone (Appendix B).

Alternative range of School Street exemptions

A range of exemptions to all School Streets are already provided for (see paragraphs 6.45 and 6.46). Whilst additional exemptions could, legally, be enabled (such as loading or taxis) these options are not compatible with the use of CCTV enforcement. Additionally, providing further exemptions for motor vehicles would undermine the key objectives of a School Street which aim to reduce road danger by providing separation between motor vehicles and vulnerable road users.