Purpose

Summary

School Streets are roads which limit the use
of motorised vehicles outside a school at school pick up and drop
off times. These restrictions allow some users of motorised
vehicles to have permits or exemptions. To date we have 14 school
street areas operational in the borough affecting 18 schools.
During the public consultation exercises on the existing school
streets concerns were raised regarding the Permit and Exemption
Policy and in particular the need for a clearer policy relating to
school staff.
In September 2023 officers launched a public
consultation for 8 weeks on a draft School Street Permit and
Exemption Policy. The results from 84 responses showed 59.52% of
people either strongly agreed or tended to agree, 35.72% strongly
disagreed or tended to disagree and 4.76% neither agreed nor
disagreed with the policy. Comments and thoughts from people have
been considered and the policy has been amended.
The policy sets out who will be allowed
permits and who is automatically exempt, avoiding any confusion and
demonstrating that these matters will be dealt with transparently
and consistently. In January 2024 the Cabinet Member (Portfolio
Lead) for Environment and Climate Change approved the changes made
in the policy, allowing it to be published and for a review period
for up to 18 months. One of the main changes was allowing permanent
school staff to obtain permits (when previous policy it was only 4
permits allowed per school).
In December 2024 - January 2025 Officers
reviewed the policy by contacting boroughs and the National
Education Union regarding their thoughts on the policy now. The
recommendation to the Cabinet Member (Portfolio Lead) for
Environment and Climate Change is to approve and retain the
existing policy.

Decisions

That the Cabinet Member for
Environment and Climate Change in accordance with the Cabinet
delegation made on the 18th July 2023 to the Portfolio
Lead for Environment and Climate Change approves to make permanent
the agreement for permanent School Staff to have permits, based on
monitoring