St John's Primary & Nursery School: School Streets Case Study

Background

In November 2018, St John’s Primary & Nursery School – in partnership with Southampton City Council and its Highways Partner Balfour Beatty Living Places - implemented a timed road closure on French Street outside the school at drop off and pick up times.

The closure was the first of its kind in Southampton and was undertaken to help reduce local air pollution and congestion at peak times; improve road safety; and create a cleaner, more pleasant environment which encourages families to travel actively to and from school.

The scheme, which was funded by developer contributions following an expansion of the school, was implemented using an official Experimental Traffic Regulation Order. Following an initial trial period, the scheme eventually went on to be made permanent in February 2020.

How does it work?

The closure is operated using moveable bollards which restrict traffic on the street for a period of 45 minutes in the morning and afternoon every weekday during term time only. Advance signage is provided on the approach to French Street to alert motorists, while pedestrian and cyclist access through French Street is unaffected.

Why St John’s Primary & Nursery School?

The school was identified as a particularly pertinent site to benefit from these measures as the school is split by a road and located within the medieval part of Southampton City Centre, close to traffic and pollution. As a catchment-only school, the majority of families are within a distance that can easily be travelled by walking, cycling or scooting – presenting a greater opportunity for behavior change on the school run.

Prior to the implementation of the scheme, children at the school were already participating in a wide range of activities to tackle air pollution and encourage active travel. These included monitoring the air quality around the school and taking part in Walktober – the month long ‘walk to school’ challenge. Pupils also regularly track their journeys to school using Living Streets’ Travel Tracker and even made an appearance at 2018’s Clean Air Day, where they entertained crowds with their ‘Clean Air Dance’. These efforts have earned the school a Gold award from Modeshift STARS (Sustainable Travel Accreditation and Recognition Scheme), the national scheme acknowledging schools that have excelled in encouraging active travel. The road closure was identified as the next stage to build on this already excellent progress.

Were there any challenges?

Barriers faced during the development of the scheme included early objections to the proposed road closure point. Initially plans were for the road closure to be further away from the location of the current scheme and would have removed access for those living on French Street. Following feedback, the closure point was moved closer to the school in order to maintain this residential access.

Another challenge was the subsequent displacement of parental parking onto adjoining streets which were not experiencing a parking issue prior to the introduction of the scheme. Positively, the number of pupils arriving to school by car reduced overall following the introduction of the closure and council enforcement officers are in place to patrol adjoining streets and ensure compliance with parking restrictions.

How were residents informed?

Local residents were informed of and thoroughly consulted on the closure. Following the implementation of the scheme, progress was monitored via a combination of traffic counts, street surveys and surveys within the school. Communication before the closure also included a launch event at the school held by My Journey – Southampton City Council’s sustainable travel brand – where parents and children got to learn more about the initiative and other sustainable ways of travelling to school.

Pupils enjoy scooting along French Street at the launch of the closure 

Results

A range of Key Performance Indicators were identified and measured before and after the implementation of the road closure to evaluate the early progress of the scheme. These included counts of bicycles, pedestrians and motor vehicles passing through French Street as well as hands-up surveys carried out by the school as part of the Travel Tracker initiative.

In addition, Healthy Streets surveys were undertaken to gauge satisfaction with the road closure amongst key target groups including school staff and parents. Before and after surveys were carried out during drop off and pick up times outside the school and asked respondents to rate a number of aspects from 1-10 (1 = not at all, 10 = extremely) including local air quality, road safety and attractiveness of the area.

The feedback from these surveys was overwhelmingly positive and yielded the following results:

• Clean Air: 26% reduction in responses rated between 6-10, indicating an improved public perception of air quality
• Road safety: 28% reduction in responses rated between 6-10, indicating a reduction in how intimidated people feel by the traffic on the street
• Attractiveness: 22% increase in responses between 6-10, indicating an improved perception of local area
• 96% support for the scheme on a permanent basis
• 94% of people surveyed felt the scheme made the area safer for children

Following the implementation of the road closure initiative, we saw an increase in active travel at the school as well as the school’s engagement with Travel Tracker:

Start of the academic year

• Active travel – 89%
• Travel Tracker engagement rate – 77%

 Post road closure

• Active travel – 93%
• Travel Tracker engagement rate - 80%

 Positive coverage

The launch event for the road closure was attended by representatives of Living Streets, the UK charity for everyday walking, who went on to produce the below video about the scheme.

The road closure received extensive media coverage on BBC Radio Solent’s morning programme with Julian Clegg, which featured live interviews with the school’s Travel Champion and a parent, as well as interviews with local councillors. The programme also produced a video for social media which can be viewed here – this was even retweeted by cycling legend Chris Boardman!

What the pupils say

Hear what one of the school’s pupils has to say about the road closure by watching our video below.