Covid-19 crisis a 'great opportunity' to create a greener, healthier and safer school run in Chesterfield

With children across Chesterfield set to return to classes in September, questions are being asked about how the school run can be made both safe and environmentally-friendly in the ‘new normal’ Covid-19 world.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Public transport continues to be discouraged and many parents will be reluctant to put their children on a school bus.

Green concerns are also paramount, with fears that pollution and congestion will inevitably rise if mums and dads all opt to take their children to the school gates by car.

Air pollution is expected to rise if more children travel to school by car.Air pollution is expected to rise if more children travel to school by car.
Air pollution is expected to rise if more children travel to school by car.
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Now a retired GP from Chesterfield has launched a conversation calling for schools in the town to be linked by safe commuting routes – allowing parents to have the confidence to encourage their children to walk or cycle to school.

Dr Brendan Ryan, of Holymoorside, says the benefits of active transport are ‘huge’ in terms of air quality, children’s health and academic performance, as well as for easing traffic congestion around schools.

"We haven’t got enough facilities to be active in Chesterfield,” Dr Ryan said.

"The journey to and from school provides the optimum amount of exercise for our children of one-hour-a-day. The average route to school is 1.5 miles so there and back is perfect.”

Parking outside schools has been a major issue in Chesterfield for many years.Parking outside schools has been a major issue in Chesterfield for many years.
Parking outside schools has been a major issue in Chesterfield for many years.
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Dr Ryan says the Covid-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to seize the moment.

"For years throughout the country we have been complaining about congestion during the school run,” he said.

"In September this is likely to be even worse, with public transport and car sharing both being unsafe in terms of social distancing for our children, teachers and our children’s extended family units.

"The current school-run situation makes social distancing on the pavements approaching school impossible.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Because of the pandemic, temporary innovations such as ‘school streets’, prohibition of drop-off close to school as well as traffic-free active travel routes, could now be activated, without the usual lengthy public consultations.”

He says this would ‘help to significantly reduce the size of the inevitable second wave of Covid-19’.

"It is likely that we will be living with the increased risk of Covid-19 for at least the next 18 months, perhaps indefinitely,” he added.

Dr Ryan, who was a founding partner at the town’s Wheatbridge Surgery, said an ideal start would be to link Walton Holymoorside Primary, Brookfield School, Westfield Primary, Brampton Primary and Old Hall School ‘to the communities they serve, to each other and to Queen's Park's sports facilities by a dedicated, mainly off-road safe cycle/walk way network’.

He has drawn up detailed plans of how it could all work.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Dr Ryan’s ambitious aims have been backed by environmental groups in the town – who say that although the pandemic has been ‘disastrous’ it has also ‘reminded us that there is a cleaner, simpler way to live without the petrol and diesel engine’.

Brian Lever, from Extinction Rebellion Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire, said every child has a right to safe travel to and from school.

"This means protection from infection, from air pollution and from traffic accidents just as much as protection from violence or harassment,” he said.

"So our child protection and child well-being policies should include provision for active travel on traffic-free routes.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"Child obesity, with its consequent costs to the health of individual children and the NHS, has been steadily rising. This moment is a great opportunity to improve the fitness of the young through walking and cycling to school in fume-free air.

"All this involves closing school streets and designating safe lanes on roads in the vicinity of schools.

“Such a move towards changing the reliance on the car school run would have immediate benefits in reducing car use and carbon emissions, and a longer term educational effect of changing habits and attitudes towards sustainable travel and life-style."

Cycling groups in Chesterfield also say now is the time to be bold in finding solutions ahead of September.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Alastair Meikle, secretary of the Chesterfield Cycle Campaign, said: “More walking and cycling for all ages will reduce traffic congestion and lead to an improvement in air quality and health of the population.

"The School Streets initiative has seen more than 100 schools in London have traffic restricted or banned outside schools. There have been similar street closures closer to Chesterfield in Derby. Deer Park School in Wingerworth holds regular ‘No Fume Fridays’ with a no-stopping zone outside the school.

“The Government’s active travel fund specifically mentions the creation of School Streets that councils should include in their next bid.

"The active travel fund could bring up to £1.7m to Derbyshire if Derbyshire County Council are successful with their bid.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A spokesperson for Derbyshire County Council urged people to have their say on the issues raised by Dr Ryan on a new parent survey set up last week.

“We are working with all our schools to see how we can encourage more pupils to walk, cycle or scoot to school in September where this is safe and possible,” the spokesperson said.

"We have launched a survey for parents, which asked them to let us know how they intend getting their children to school in September, and this asked them what would make walking, cycling or scooting more likely.

“Over many years we have worked with schools to encourage them to have a school travel plan that prioritises active and environmentally-friendly ways of travelling to school.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"We also ask schools to look at park and stride schemes, and walking bubbles, which mean that if parents have to drive to school they park a distance away and then walk the last part of the journey. Many schools in Derbyshire do promote this as an option to their parents.

“We encourage schools to sign up to the Modeshift STARS scheme, which is a national scheme aimed at working with school communities to promote active, safe and sustainable travel as well as running our own Travel Smart campaign twice a year.”

Click here to view the survey.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you

Nancy Fielder, editor