Oldham’s new school street has been visited by local leaders following its launch three weeks ago.
Future interventions in the area outside St Anne’s school in Royton could include residents’ parking zones and expanding the timing of road closures, depending on whether the current scheme does enough, according to Greater Manchester active travel commissioner Dame Sarah Storey.
Council leader Arooj Shah, who was also in attendance, said seven more school streets are already in the pipeline.
Eight were originally meant to launch in February but the council leader said this was delayed when they found that "a lot more work was required than we originally anticipated".
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The current single ‘School Streets’ scheme sees dead-end Ormerod Avenue closed from 8.15am to 9am, and 2.45pm to 3.35pm on school days only, with permit holders, emergency vehicles, and blue badge holders exempted from the restrictions.
In conjunction, a permanent change to St Anne’s Avenue and Mellalieu Street has also been implemented, with drivers only able to go one way on the narrow streets.
Headteacher Sue Holt said: “We have managed to encourage more families to walk to school, and the children feel a lot safer, and so do parents before school and after school.
“It was pretty hazardous before, so now it’s far better.”
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Parent Sammy, who lives in Fitton Hill, knows how dangerous the situation was before – her daughter was hit by a driver.
She said: “I drive 20 minutes every morning, and since they’ve changed it, it works mint.
“I thought it was going to cause so much traffic trying to get out with it all being one way, but it’s amazing, it works better and I get home quicker.
“Parking’s easier, you couldn’t get out the street. My little girl got hit by a car. We’ve had people being knocked over by scooters, it’s been awful.”
When the scheme was launched three weeks ago, two pull-up bollards controlled access to the street to prevent unauthorised drivers.
However, now only one is in action, after a driver hit and damaged one.
Cabinet member for neighbourhoods Cllr Chris Goodwin, who was also in attendance, said: “That just goes to show that car drivers need to be careful wherever they’re driving, that could have been a small child.
“It’s absolutely paramount that we put the safety of our children and residents first.”
Ms Holt added: “It was driven into, unfortunately, but these things happen don’t they?
“Once the scheme’s finalised and it’s permanent, we hope to have something a little bit more high-tech.”
Dame Sarah, who is a British Paralympic athlete in cycling and swimming, said: “This morning everyone’s been arriving with beaming smiles, I think it’s been an instant success here.
“People used to try to turn around in this cul-de-sac despite the fact there’s no turning area, people were parking to go in and speak to teachers or to friends, and it really was gridlock.
“The council have also done some measures outside the school street with a one-way system, and it’s helped the residents with parking because there’s terraced houses on both sides of the street, so there’s less likelihood of parents blocking people in or double parking.
“Some people even used to stop in the middle of the road to let their children out, which obviously is unsafe for everybody.
“Pedestrians are at the fore of the school street, because people are coming on foot with very small children and it can be challenging, especially when there’s very little space for pedestrians. I really hope we see a lot more and the councils find them to be successful.”
She added: “The bollard can, fortunately, be replaced. People will make mistakes, so we just have to make sure we’re aware those things can happen and we have a solution.”
Cllr Shah said: “We know parking and congestion is a problem across all our schools, it encourages active travel. We know that if kids cycle and walk to school hopefully it’ll be a habit of a lifetime.
“I think the ultimate benefit for this is to provide safer streets for kids that are travelling to school. We know that parking is a problem, congestion is a problem, and idling vehicles outside schools are a problem too – they pollute the air that our children on the way to school breathe, so hopefully this is our first scheme and we’re going to roll it across other schools in Oldham.”
The council had originally announced that eight school streets would be launching at the same time, before delaying the launch and scaling it back just to St Anne’s.
Cllr Shah added: “We were planning to launch all eight at the same time, but there’s a lot more work involved than we’d anticipated, like speaking to residents, consulting with them, doing it tactically, and the traffic regulation orders and everything that you have to put in place.
“We’ll still be launching eight, it’s just a lot more work has been required than we originally anticipated.”
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