The number of School Streets in the UK has been rising steadily in recent years. In London there were just 76 School Streets in 2019 – there are now 547 schemes across nearly every London borough, with a quarter of primary schools now located on School Streets. 

School Streets effectively address the congestion, road safety and air quality concerns that many schools experience. Monitoring of schemes has revealed how they are enabling children and families to safely walk, wheel, scoot or cycle to school. And by making active travel possible for everyone, they help contribute to efforts to tackle the health crisis and climate change.

As awareness of new schemes grows, the case for School Streets becomes ever more compelling. Not only do they improve the quality of people’s lives locally – they make a difference for entire communities. But the success of a scheme depends on how consultation, implementation, enforcement and monitoring are carried out.

Landor LINKS is running this one-day event to showcase best practice and offer practical guidance. This conference will bring together professionals from a range of disciplines.

Key themes

The panels will discuss issues including:

• Funding
• Partnerships
• Active travel
• Health and wellbeing
• Consultation and engagement
• Infrastructure design
• Monitoring
• Traffic management and enforcement

Who will be attending School Streets South

School Streets South will be attended by:

• Local authority officers
• Councillors and stakeholders
• Teachers and educationalists
• Road safety and active travel campaigners
• Parking and enforcement specialists
• Academics and researchers
• Consultants

Programme

09:00: Registration Opens

09:45: Welcome from Cllr Rezina Chowdhury, Cabinet Member for Sustainable Lambeth and Clean Air, London Borough of Lambeth

10:00 Session 1: Embarking on the journey

Embarking on the journey: The case for School Streets is becoming ever more compelling. But what’s the best way of getting from proposal to implementation? What is the process for choosing suitable sites? How do you effectively liaise with schools? What’s the best way to communicate your aims to parents and local residents? Would local authorities benefit from having dedicated School Street officers? What are the potential pitfalls to look out for?

Session Chair: TBC, Transport for London

• Stephanie Pathak, Strategy and Planning Manager, Transport for London

• Samuel Dillon, School Streets Officer, London Borough of Lambeth

• TBC, London Borough of Islington Council 

11:15: Morning break

11:45: Session 2: Smooth operations

Smooth operations: Once your School Street is up and running, how do you drive up compliance? Is there a case for using volunteers? What is the most effective type of signage? Do you need fixed cameras at every site? Or is there a case for mobile and movable cameras? How do you cover the cost of enforcement if compliance improves? Is behaviour change dependent on continuous enforcement?

Session Chair: Steph Bortoli, Head of Engagement, Project Centre 

• Liz Brooker MBE, Road Safety and Sustainable Transport Manager, London Borough of Lewisham Council 

• Michael Oskys, Sustainable Transport Planner, London Borough of Hackney Council 

• TBC

• Paul Costello, Strategic Account Director – South, Marston Holdings 

13:00: Lunch

14:00:Session 3: Building an evidence base.

Building an evidence base: How do you prove that School Streets really make a positive impact? What is the best approach when monitoring a scheme? How do you collect strong data on: air quality; road danger including perceived road danger; active travel; public health; community cohesion; urban greening. Once you’ve collected data, what is the best way to disseminate it?

Chair: Samuel Dillon, School Streets Officer, London Borough of Lambeth

• TBC, London Borough of Hounslow

• TBC

• Habib Khan, Founder and Director, Meristem Design 

• Dr Anna Moore, Respiratory Specialist Registrar and Education Fellow at the Royal London Hospital in Simulation 

15:15: Afternoon break

15:45: Session 4: Discussions and Q&A

Round table discussion and Q&A: Your chance to ask the experts about operational and policy-related issues. This could cover issues around the need for national policy on exemptions and signage, challenging ‘culture war’ myths, working in partnership with neighbouring councils, and building partnerships with TfL and other organisations.

Session Chair: Andrew Potter, Transport Planner and Modeller, Director at Parking Perspectives 

Panel: Experts from central and local government, consultants and campaign groups

• Panel TBC

17:00: Close of conference