BELFAST City Council is being urged to implement a scheme to pedestrianise areas around schools during drop-off and pick-up times in a bid to improve safety.
The motion was tabled by SDLP councillors Séamas de Faoite and Gary McKeown who say the ‘School Streets’ programme has been a success elsewhere in Ireland and the UK.
Both councillors have called for a pilot project to be launched which will aim to replicate the success seen in other parts of Ireland. The scheme aims to cut emissions by encouraging children to walk to school while also increasing road safety around schools by halting the use of vehicles in the areas during the beginning and end of the school day. The councillors have already identified areas in which to test the scheme and have consulted with Fingal County Council in Dublin who have had success with a similar scheme.
Councillor de Faoite said: "I’ve seen first-hand just how successful the School Streets programme has been in North Dublin, where schools, parents and residents have wholeheartedly embraced an effort to open space up for children and cut harmful emissions and dangerous car traffic.
PEDESTRIANISE: Councillors Gary McKeown and Séamas de Faoite have called for roads outside schools to be pedestrianised during busy periods to increase safety and cut emissions
“We’ve offered the support of Fingal County Council to the Department for Infrastructure on a number of occasions since 2020 to develop a School Streets policy. We’ve even worked with local schools like Holy Rosary Primary in South Belfast to propose potential pilot schemes. All we have received from the Department’s officials has been dither and delay. They refused to meet with the engineers from Fingal County Council. That is unacceptable.
“School Streets is a powerful intervention that will change how children get to and from their classrooms, establishing positive attitudes to active travel from a young age and limiting the harm done by dangerous vehicle emissions."
In 2020 just before lockdown I visited St. Oliver Plunkett’s PS in Malahide, where Fingal Council have successfully piloted School Streets, cut traffic accidents and cut CO2 emissions around kids. Why won’t DfI work with Fingal to pilot this in Belfast? https://t.co/pa5iVcJc7Y pic.twitter.com/fpb7kFAJFW
— Cllr. Séamas de Faoite (@SeamasBelfast) January 4, 2023
Botanic Councillor Gary McKeown said: "If the Department for Infrastructure is serious about wanting kids to walk, cycle and scoot to school, then it needs a move beyond the rhetoric and actually deliver.
"School Streets is a prime example of a scheme that has been proven to work elsewhere on these islands. There's no reason why pilots can't be rolled out here in locations that will work for pupils, nearby residents and the wider community.
"By planning these schemes effectively and working with schools and people who live nearby to properly involve them in the process, we can provide safe routes for families to get to and from class, and in turn reduce traffic, congestion and pollution, and increase safety. The Department needs to step up and grasp this opportunity."
