It’s a step in the right direction to fight climate change
A plan to get 60 per cent of children walking or cycling to school by 2035 is a good move in the battle against climate change, says Midlands green energy expert Ron Fox.
He was commenting on the government’s new £4.5bn investment strategy to allow millions more five-to-16-year-olds to travel by foot or bike using thousands of safer routes.
Government data shows that only 47 per cent of children aged five to 16 usually walk or cycle to school at the moment.
The scheme by the Department for Transport (DfT) includes:
- Creating 5,000 new walking, wheeling, and cycling routes by 2030.
- Building 10,000 safer road crossings to connect homes with schools by 2030.
- Setting £135 million aside to teach children how to walk and cycle safely and to help schools develop travel plans that encourage pupils to avoid car journeys.
- Wanting 55 per cent of all short trips in towns and cities to be walked or cycled by 2035, which includes walking or cycling and then going on public transport. The present level is 48 per cent, according to the DfT.
- Ensuring the national walking and cycling network is available on route mapping apps within five years.
“As the daily school run generates up to 2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually in the UK, it shows how important this move is,” said Ron, of Noreus Ltd on the University of Keele Science and Innovation Park.
Recent data from the national Count Your Carbon report by Eco-Schools and Keep Britain Tidy showed that student transport is the single biggest source of carbon emissions for individual schools.
Pupil commuting accounted for 21 per cent of an average school’s total carbon footprint, while staff commuting added another 12 per cent.
The report said that when including educational trips and transport it generates 40 per cent of a school’s overall emissions whereas heating and lighting school buildings was only 27 per cent.
It also showed that families on the school run make up roughly one in four cars on the road during the morning peak and that 42 per cent of pupils still travel to school by car, despite many living within a two-mile radius.
Rural school journeys often generate a carbon footprint up to five times greater than urban routes due to longer distances and a lack of alternative transport.
Finally, there is the problem of local pollution as morning drop-offs expose children to significantly higher levels of air pollution near school gates.
Ron concluded: “A generation ago, 70 per cent of children walked to school, but now it’s much lower. I definitely think this is one path to help the UK reach net zero.”
This article raises some important questions, said Ron. Do your children walk or cycle to school as some of our readers’ families do? Will you be encouraging your children and grandchildren to do so under this new scheme? What do you think of this government plan and is there more that they can do? Send your views to Ron Fox at [email protected]
For more details about how to cut your carbon footprint and to invest in green energy call Ron on 0845 474 6641 or go to www.noreus.co.uk
Caption: Walking to school may be a new lesson for some of today’s young children. Picture: John Butterworth
