Many schools suffer from busy nearby streets which causes problems with:
- parking
- traffic and congestion
- road safety
- air quality
The Healthy School Streets programme aims to address these problems by restricting traffic at school drop-off and pick-up times. Some vehicles may be exempt.
You can find out more about the benefits in our animated video about Healthy School Streets.
How it works
We assess streets outside schools that we can reasonably restrict to motor vehicles without moving too much traffic elsewhere.
If a Healthy School Street is introduced, streets will be restricted to vehicles for a limited time on school days. The schemes are enforced with signs and either bollards or cameras with license plate recognition.
As well as introducing restrictions, we can work with schools to help reduce the number of pupils being driven to school by:
- providing pedestrian and cycle training
- encouraging walking and cycling
- helping schools to achieve an accreditation on STARS - the Transport for London initiative for school travel planning.
- supporting parents to try out cycling with a free loan bike or cargo bike trial
Exemptions
You can apply for an exemption to a Healthy School Street for any of the following:
- vehicles registered to properties and businesses in the restricted area
- any vehicle being used for ambulance, fire brigade or policing purposes
- refuse collection vehicles
- Statutory door-to-door services, such as Plus Bus and Dial A Ride
- Blue Badge holders that require access to an address within the restricted area
- vehicles belonging to parents or carers of disabled pupils unable to walk, cycle, or scoot to school
- other exemptions agreed on a case-by-case basis, such as older or disabled residents who are reliant on door-to-door transport
Refuse vehicles, emergency services, statutory door-to-door services and home to school transport for children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) do not need to apply for exemption.
Apply for a Healthy School Streets exemption
If you think you may be exempt for another reason, please contact us by emailing healthy.school.streets@camden.gov.uk or leaving a message on 020 7974 8796 to discuss your requirements.
You can also:
take a look at the locations of healthy school streets
share your views or request a healthy school street by emailing healthy.school.streets@camden.gov.uk or leaving a voicemail on 020 7974 8796
share your views on one of our trial schemes by leaving a comment on our Commonplace website