Eastbourne school joins £1.8 million project to make school run more Covid-safe

Langney Primary School is part of the six-week project which starts on March 15 and finishes May 7. It is called School Streets and has been put together by East Sussex County Council.

The project will restrict non-essential traffic at specific times to make more space for social distancing, walking and cycling during the school run.

The council has teamed up with the walking and cycling charity Sustrans for the project which gained a grant of £1.8m from the second instalment of the Department for Transport’s Emergency Active Travel Fund. This fund aims to deliver a programme of longer term projects to support more walking and cycling across the county.

Councillor Claire Dowling lead member for transport and the environment, said, “I am delighted that we have secured government funding to run trial School Streets schemes at six schools in East Sussex.

“Working with Sustrans, I hope we will be able to show the benefits of these schemes in terms of road safety and air quality as well as providing more space for social distancing, to both the schools taking part and their wider communities.”

Helen Kellar from Sustrans, said, “We’re really pleased to see East Sussex County Council and schools across the area taking the initiative to put School Streets in place.

“These schemes will help to give families the space they need to get to school safely. As a road free from vehicles could typically gain an extra seven metre wide space for pedestrians, maintaining physical distancing at busy school run times will become much easier.

“Previous School Streets schemes have proved beneficial for road safety and air quality. And they create a cleaner, more pleasant environment outside the school. In turn, School Streets increase the likelihood that children will walk or cycle to school instead of being dropped off in a car.”

Five other schools are taking place across East Sussex: Southover C of E Primary School, Lewes; Harbour Primary and Nursery School, Newhaven; All Saints C of E Primary School, Bexhill; and Ark Blacklands Primary Academy and All Saints C of E Junior Academy in Hastings.

For more information on the project go to: https://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/roadsandtransport/planning/emergency-active-travel-fund/about-the-emergency-active-travel-fund/